If appears that Apple might be looking at a new universal power adapter cable for their devices that could possibly simultaneously charge and transfer data so they can do away with the USB cable for the iPhone and Apple iPad and the power cable for Mac computers a recent patent would suggest.

According an article on Ubergizmo, the guys over at Apple Insider discovered the Apple patent called “Power Adapters for Powering and/or Charging Peripheral Devices.”

As Apple gear users will know when charging Apple gear you have the option to use a power adapter that plugs into the wall, which charges the iPhone or Apple iPad faster than being plugged into a Mac, but when doing so it mean you can’t transfer data from your PC to your iOS device whilst charging.

However this new Apple patent suggests that Apple is looking at a way round that by including a data port in the power adapter and thus allowing simultaneous charging and data transfer and reduce the need for multiple cables.

According to the filing, “It would be desirable to remove the total number of connections made to a peripheral device so as to reduce the number of connectors and cables needed to operate the peripheral device. By reducing the number of connectors and cables, the peripheral size and the cost of the product may be decreased as well as the ease of use of the peripheral device may be improved (less cables to tote around).”

Of course this is only a patent so doesn’t mean Apple fans will be getting the universal power adapter any time soon, but it does seem like a good idea, and one that possibly could materialise at some point in the future.