An Ohio-based start-up company has launched an accessory that might just best other iPhone accessories in the market-an iPhone 6 case that can also charge the smartphone.
The new iPhone 6 charging case from Nikola Labs utilizes renewable energy for its new product. The new accessory is capable of converting the smartphone's radio frequency signals into energy that can charge the iPhone.
In an event hosted by technology website TechCrunch called 'Disrupt' event, Nikola Labs founders gave a demo of the new iPhone 6 case to the TC editorial team in New York.
Just to be clear, it is not a battery, but a case that passively absorbs energy released by the smartphone, and turns it into an energy that can then be used by the device.
"It converts the wasted 90 percent of energy the phone produces trying to pump out a cellphone signal, and puts it back into the phone, thus powering it for up to 30 percent longer," Nikola Labs Will Zell told the TC editors.
According to the founders of the new accessory for the iPhone, "90% of the smartphone's transmitted energy is lost to the environment." The team strongly believed that this type of energy can still be reused by recycling it.
"It's not a spectacular, in-your-face technology, but it's a technology that works," Zell explained.
The $99 iPhone 6 case is equipped with a "harvesting antenna," which effectively captures the radio frequency from the phone, and then converts it into electricity that can power it up.
"Nikola Technology efficiently converts RF signals like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and LTE into DC power using its proprietary energy harvesting circuit. The result is usable energy that can provide power to mobile devices wirelessly," Nikola Labs said on its official website.
Apart from the simple yet impressive technology, the new iPhone 6 case also features a signal strength indicator, sleek protection, RF-DC converter, and of course, battery life extension.
Nikola Labs is gearing towards making the iPhone 6 case available in the market within a year, and is working closely with Ohio State University. The new accessory will soon be launched on Kickstarter.
