A new rumor is claiming that Apple’s next iPhone will ditch the traditional home button in favor of a “capacitive home button.” It would make sense since the home button is known to be the cause of many problems for iPhone owners, but the decision is reportedly being made to accommodate the rumored fingerprint sensor in the phone.

Not much is known about Apple’s next iPhone aside from the usual (and expected) spec bumps. But the rumor that has persisted all this time is that Apple will be implementing a fingerprint sensor in the iPhone, as a means to increase security and also as an attempt to do away with passwords altogether.

This latest rumor from Taiwanese site TechNews claims that the home button in upcoming iPhone will no longer be an actual button, but a capacitive area covered in sapphire. This will allow the fingerprint to be placed in the most natural place on the device and should effectively remove the annoyance of broken home buttons that have plagued numerous iPhone owners. Apple is already using sapphire for the iPhone’s camera lens since the material is less likely to get scratched.

Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference is set to take place next month, on June 10-14 in San Francisco. A new iPhone announcement is not expected, but the company has stated that new versions of OS X and iOS will be shown. The latter of which should give us a hint of what direction the next iPhone will be taking.

[via MacRumors]