Apple may be seeking to make their future MacBook models slimmer by implementing new USB port design. A patent application describes an innovative input port model that combines standard USB port with SD card slot. There seems to be an issue with the design, since the USB port could break easily, when there’s no SD card underneath it.
There’s nothing under the USB port that can support the weight of USB cable and keep the USB plug in place. It may need a prolonged use of USB cable or some accidental downward force to ruin this USB port. However, this should be easy to solve, for example by inserting a type of plastic filler.
For added protection, Apple may include a dummy SD card with the MacBook Air. This patent still doesn’t guarantee that we would see such port design on future MacBook Air models. The filing date is actually December and it is published earlier today as “combined input ports, so actually, there’s a possibility that Apple has already ditched the idea.