iPhone dock ports and plugs may be getting smaller

If the latest Apple rumour is indeed true, the one consistent feature that survived the generations of iPhones, iPods and iPads is about to change.

A report from CNET reveals that Apple might be switching to a smaller port, which in turn would change the required connectors that can be found in millions of homes throughout the country.

Yet while CNET's Josh Lowensohn stops short of revealing when we can expect such a change, Rene Ritchie gives us a ballpark time frame.

"We've heard that Apple is getting ready to ditch the dock connector as it's currently sized and implemented on iPods, iPhones, and iPads," shares Ritchie in a iMore report. "The reason isn't anything political, like a new desire to conform to an outdated micro-USB standard, but typically Apple: to save space inside the iPhone 5 for what are now more important components."

Which steers us toward our next Apple rumour: tech pundits believe the iPhone 5 will be making its debut in June at this year's Worldwide Developers conference scheduled June 10 - 15. The iPhone 4S was released in October of 2011.

And while a change to the size of the dock is sure to irk millions of Apple loyalists, the tech giant has a history of shrinking components in order to make room for new ones.

"Apple switched from the very common mini SIM card to the then very uncommon micro SIM card for the original iPad," explains Ritchie in the report. "They took the antenna out of the core package and put it around the edge in the iPhone 4. They had 10 hours of battery life they wanted to hit. They had a Retina display and its backlight. They had an HSPA radio. They had 802.11n Wi-Fi. They had a bigger camera sensor. They had a lot of power-hungry components, and they needed space to hold them and power them, so they switched to a smaller SIM and kicked the antenna to the outside."

The necessity for a smaller dock does make sense, but Lowensohn believes this development "would cause a considerable shake-up in the world of third-party gadgets with built-in dock connectors." Just think of all those iPod sound systems that could soon become obsolete. With the rate at which Apple pushes out its updated products, it wouldn't take long for the old standard port size to be grandfathered out of existence.

Yet before we raise our iPhones in protest, there's a chance we could learn more about the rumoured dock change in a couple of weeks. Apple is expected to reveal the upcoming iPad 3 at a special event reportedly scheduled for early March.

How do you feel about this rumoured dock change in Apple products? Let us know in the comments below.

(Image from CNET)