If you listen to Apple's marketing machine, removing the headphone port from the iPhone was "courageous." For consumers, it was a frustration that left us carrying around dongles or investing in expensive wireless headphones and earphones.

The real reason Apple dumped the headphone port is it wanted the space back and to be able to make devices even thinner (and to sell lots of AirPods ($129.00 at Amazon) ). However, as MSPoweruser reports, a new Microsoft patent reveals Apple could have come up with another solution to keep everyone happy.

Microsoft filed a patent in August last year entitled "Plug receptacle for an electronic device." The patent describes a method of integrating a 3.5mm headphone port into a device, but doing so without requiring the full thickness of a standard headphone jack. Impossible! I hear you say. Not so, says Microsoft.

The port Microsoft designed sits flush on a device, but expands when a headphone jack is inserted. Effectively, Microsoft reduced the thickness of the port by at least half without requiring a headphone plug design change.

The expansion described can happen in one or two directions and would require the use of a flexible material. Depending on the thickness of the device, the port could expand upward, or it could expand upward and downward creating a small lump on the front and back of the device. The headphone jack would be registered by spring-like electrical contacts on the inside of the flexible material.

Such a port would certainly add complexity to a device, and therefore cost. There would also be a concern over durability of the flexible material and the electrical contacts with repeated use. However, if durability isn't a concern, this could work. Don't expect Apple to consider it, though. Wired headphones have long since been forgotten about in Cupertino.

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