Technology seems to be evolving towards a new era of solar power. MacRumors.com brings out a recently published patent that Apple is investigating to use in some of its handheld devices and even portable computers. By integrating solar panels in its mobile devices, the battery will no longer be the only one to generate power and therefore the life of a mobile can be easily extended.

Many mobile devices manufacturers have thought of this new improved technique. Besides Apple, Motorola described a similar patent in 2001 on the blog TreeHugger. Solar panels are supposed to be incorporated under the LCD layer of the mobile device. That is a good location for the panels to absorb ambient light that passes through the screen.

The technique is not as easy as it sounds. There are also minuses revealed by the MacRumors.com, such as limited area available to solar panels, durability and the “wasting” of space on a portable device.

If Apple succeeds in implementing this innovative technology, the solar panels set behind the actual LCD screens will not cause the change of the devices’ design.

However, portable devices that can be charged through solar power are not new on the market. There are several such products available. One of them, released by Better Energy Systems Company is capable to raise a mobile phone’s rate of life with around 20 minutes of operational talk if the charger absorbs sunlight for an hour.

Another company, NRG Dock released a new line of solar chargers at the Consumer Electronics Show, that are designed to run a range of electronics, like cell phones, Blackberrys, gaming machines and music players. The company’s future plans include a patent to power laptops too.