The Apple logo.
IN PHOTO: The Apple logo is pictured at a retail store in the Marina neighborhood in San Francisco, California April 23, 2014. REUTERS / Robert Galbraith

In time for their 2015 release dates, Apple's next-generation phablet, likely the iPhone 7 Plus, and iPads could boast of a killer feature that was originally popularised by Samsung with its Galaxy Note jumbo smartphone series - the stylus.

The late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, of course, was dismissive of the possibility that any of the iOS devices will one day come out of the box wielding a stylus. And once upon a time, Jobs famously declared: "Nobody wants a stylus."

Apple turnaround?

Yet in the same manner that the iPhone maker had defied its former CEO by embracing the phablet phenomenon when it released the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus September this year, it appears now that the device instrument, which Jobs hated, could join the Apple family of mobile gadgets soon.

In a new Apple patent that Business Insider first pointed out, the tech giant is at least considering the likelihood of stylus being paired with its money-makers - that iPhone and the iPad.

While non-Apple stylus currently works with the iPad, the newly-published patent, which the company had filed before the U.S. patent authorities in June 2013, is the first solid indicator that the company is flirting with the idea of an in-house touch device tool.

"A touch input device configured to synchronize a stylus acquisition process with both a touch data acquisition process and a display refresh process is provided," Apple described its own brand of stylus in the patent abstract.

The tech giant envisions the iOS stylus to have "one or more processors can also virtual data banks to synchronize both the touch data acquisition and the stylus scan acquisition with the display refresh process."

Designed for the iPhone 7 Plus and next iPads?

The patent, however, is not clear if the subject pointer will one day become available as companion tool for any of its existing iOS devices or a new product will be introduced with the stylus as one of its default components.

One clear possibility is the Apple stylus will be made an option tool for the company's upcoming phablet and tablet models, which positions the iPhone 7 Plus and likely the upcoming 12.9-inch iPad Pro as the first devices to enjoy the benefits of an Apple-perfected touch screen pointer.

Per Business Insider, having its own stylus to go with the iOS devices "wouldn't hurt Apple's push to put iPads in schools. It could also help Apple in the enterprise - a stylus might be better for certain kinds of data entry or other repetitive tasks."

Or the idea of stylus will simply remain on paper as Apple will just go ahead with its iPhone 7 and next iPad release date plans in the second half of 2015 minus the instrument that Steve Jobs would have refused to use anyway.