“Back in July we reported on one of Apple’s patent applications regarding a new reversible USB Connector which would likely comply with the new USB Type-C standard,” Jack Purcher reports for Patently Apple. “A new rumor surfacing yesterday claimed that Apple will be using a single Type-C USB port on their next generation MacBook Air as a means of making the new design much thinner. Apple’s new connector is reportedly to replace Apple’s Thunderbolt Display port as well as MagSafe. Is the new reversible USB connector stemming from Apple’s patent-pending invention the one they’ll use for the new MacBook Air or is Apple’s radical universal port invention ready for prime time?”
“Back in October 2013, Apple filed for a patent regarding a radical new connector that could replace the standard USB, HDMI, DVI, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt, FireWire and beyond ports that come in varying sizes,” Purcher reports. “Will Apple really limit the new MacBook Air to a single USB port or will they introduce a smarter universal connector and port system to accommodate many kinds of standards such as HDMI, DVI and Thunderbolt? Only time will tell which way Apple will go, but if there was ever a time to introduce Apple’s new patent pending universal connector, it would be now.”
Read more, and see Apple’s patent application illustrations, in the full article here.
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The new 12-Inch MacBook Air rumors don’t make sense – January 7, 2015
Why Apple’s new 12-inch MacBook Air can abandon almost all ports – January 6, 2015
Apple’s next major Mac revealed: Meet the radically new 12-inch MacBook Air – January 6, 2015
True, if Apple was ever to actually do it, it would be now, unless Apple is shifting to Wireless charging. Either would be interesting to see unfold.
I don’t know the details, but the problem with wireless charging is you still need a cord, charger and charger pad.
That doesn’t seem to be simplifying to me. Seems like more bulk and more things to carry.
I know Apple will either simplify things or they won’t do it.
But if it only *needs* charging at night when you set it on said charging pad, that is simplified. Not to mention if it sits there 99% of the time, and is only occasionally removed to show of that awesome video of your grandkid hitting a home run at the baseball game last night to the guests over for the Christmas party. (I don’t know why they are playing baseball in December! It’s your grandkid!)
At Christmas, my brother-in-law was down and had his giant android phone along with its large “wireless” charging station.
Seems like it’s be easier to travel and charge with just a cable and a wee plug.
I’d rather see Apple focus on delivering data through a MagSafe connector, and eliminate any port holes (usb, lightning, thunderbolt, etc)
I thought that would be the direction they would go. I thought the idea for the magsafe was so that if you tripped over it somehow then it wouldn’t damage the port/connector.. With the new connector they are going back to possibly having damaged ports again. It would also be one less hole to waterproof.
So what do you do during a data transfer when the magnetic connector is dislodged? BAD IDEA.
The quest for all power and data to be routed through a single connector is pure folly. As we all know, it just forces the user to buy overpriced connectors. Thunderbolt is a failure in the marketplace, for good reason. It doesn’t simplify anything.
Well, if anyone is going to move forward on ports, it’s Apple. Even if Lenovo, HP (“Invent”) and Dell make and sell more PCs per quarter, it just isn’t in their DNA to simplify. Their idea of innovation is turning a laptop into a tablet via folding or detachment. Apple will always be the first to boldly take away floppy drives, optical drives and anything else whose time has passed.
Canno’ stand ridiculous USB cables that go in one way only.
Surely Apple can’t introduce yet another one tor unless it is a universal connector though in reality I’m not convinced it could strictly be that univesal.
Apple move forward on ports? That’ll be the day. One of the nightmares of being a decades-long Mac user, with a company that uses them and several in my own household, is the CONSTANTLY changing connectors. They not only change all the time, they can be hard to find once they have; and many of them are just plain not durable. Can’t remember how many power cords I’ve bought, which break off where they go into the Mac. Time Apple got this right for once! Sick of the expense and inconvenience.