Apple unveils a new patent application that aims to remove more components from its minimalist devices. The new solution combines the orifices of a microphone and a headphone into one, yielding a design that has the microphone at the bottom of the cavity into which slips the headphone jack. In its patent application, the company said that the microphone "is coupled to the body such that the plug aperture and the cavity provide an acoustic path to the microphone."

The solution may be used in conjunction with a normal, hole-using mic to provide noise-cancelation for phone-calls and also provide directional recording via "beamforming." The invention also closes off an open hole through which dust and dirt may enter.

Apple says that the holes drilled into the casing of laptops and phones allow microphones, headsets, USB plugs and switches "breaches the barrier that protects components inside the housing." The holes are said to allow dust and liquids to get in and can cause short circuits and overheating.

Apple aims to reduce the number of holes by making them multifunctional, which is why the company removed the need for a separate microphone aperture by making it part of the socket the headphone jack plugs into.

The invention adds only a couple of milllimetres to the socket length. The company says that "A microphone can be added to a mobile telephone without the need for an external aperture."

The new feature continues Apple's obsession with stripped-down hardware. Currently, the iPad is down to one main button and a few dedicated switches and four holes in the edges.