Melbourne, May 28 : Soon you may be able to relax on the beach and listen to your favourite song without being worried about running out of your iPod’s battery, for Apple is considering solar-powered iPods and iPhones in the future.

Apple has filed a patent for a technology, which would enable a layer of solar cells to be inserted under a touch-sensitive screen of the sort used in the iPhone.

If the patent is awarded, it will make the iPhone a truly portable device, dispensing with the need for it to be connected to a power supply by wires.

Once the screen takes up space and keypad is taken into account, there is generally little room for solar panels on portable devices, reports The Australian.

Apple's patent is planning to tackle the problem by stacking the solar cells beneath both the touch-sensitive screen and the LCD. That would potentially let the full 2.4 by 4.5 inch glass face of the iPhone to function as a solar panel.

If the application, entitled 'Solar cells on portable devices', is successful, it has the potential to boost the battery life of iPhones and iPods dramatically.

The patent was unearthed by the Apple fan site MacRumors. com. (ANI)