Apple is reportedly testing a new 12-inch MacBook Air that is super-thin, made possible by a new all-in-one USB port.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

9to5Mac reports that Apple is testing a new 12-inch MacBook Air that is significantly thinner and even narrower than the current 11-inch model. To get a laptop that thin, Apple (AAPL, Tech30) swapped out all of the MacBook's ports for a single all-in-one miracle port.

Today, MacBook Airs come with a USB port and a MagSafe charging port (and a headphone port -- that's staying). The ports are only a few millimeters thick, basically taking up the entire width of the laptop.

If Apple does make the decision to switch to so-called USB Type C technology, it will be adopting a new, much thinner kind of USB plug that basically does everything.

Type-C USB is capable of powering a computer, so users won't need a separate MagSafe charger. It can power a display, and it's significantly faster than "old school" USB technology -- fast enough to replace Apple's Thunderbolt ports.

Best of all, Type-C USB plugs are reversible. That means no more struggling to figure out which way the plug is supposed to go.

Related: This is the new USB connector - and it's reversible!

And it's tiny technology. The plugs are roughly the size of today's micro-USB plugs that power just about every non-Apple smartphone. They're slightly larger than Apple's Lightning port.

If Apple includes Type-C USB in its new MacBooks, which are expected to go on sale in the late spring, it could be just the jolt the new technology needs. The brand new Type-C USB technology started hitting stores late last year, but they haven't been widely adopted.

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Apple testing super-thin MacBook Air