Garmin Instinct 2X Solar – Perovskite Solar Panel upgrade? Defect fix? or Tweak?

If you’ve recently examined the Garmin Instinct 2X Solar, you might have noticed an unannounced change in colour to its solar panels. Unlike the reddish hue of earlier models, the panels now appear green, as reported in September by u/8887373 on the Garmin forums. This colour change raises the question: Is it a silent hardware upgrade or a manufacturing issue?

Manufacturing Tweak or Solar Breakthrough?

The colour change is likely due to a deliberate alteration in the panel materials, potentially affecting absorption and yield properties. While less likely, the possibility of new solar technology—specifically perovskite—cannot be entirely ruled out.

Perovskite solar cells (PSC) are a promising development, known for their potentially higher efficiency compared to silicon-based cells. Their chemical composition can be adjusted to match specific light conditions, a possible explanation for the green hue observed on the Instinct 2X Solar.

Perovskite: A Game-Changer?

Current solar panel power conversion efficiency (PCE) is generally low, around 10-15%. Perovskite materials offer several advantages, including flexibility, lower production costs, and a broader light absorption spectrum, which, in line with experimental results, could boost PCE to 25% later this decade.

How Perovskite Could Enhance the Instinct 2X Solar

If Garmin has indeed adopted perovskite-based solar cells, it could mark a significant advancement in solar-charging wearables. Even if the initial performance is similar to previous models, future generations of Instinct Solar and Fenix Solar will benefit from substantial gains as the consumer-grade technology is tweaked to perform similarly to those in lab conditions.

Upgrade or Cosmetic Change?

While a Solar Panel Tech upgrade is possible, the colour change is much more likely to result from a minor tweak, such as a coating alteration to improve light absorption. Any improvements to performance today are likely to be minimal.

Even in the longer term, I am not convinced that Garmin needs to improve further battery longevity to already good performance levels. As solid-state batteries and microLED technologies come to Garmin in the next few years, these might give easier battery performance gains than perovskite solar tech promised. Indeed, Garmin has already innovated to improve charging performance with the solar panels on the Enduro 3 and Fenix 8, but they do not have the same screen hue we see here.

What do you think?