Next iPhone, iPad may have no buttons at all

Apple’s mobile products are all about the multitouch interface, but users still have the comfort of a Home button to go back to the main menu screen at any time. According to a new report, the next round of products won’t have that.

Instead, everything will be controlled by gestures, according to Boy Genius Report which says it was tipped off by an anonymous insider.

“Instead of button taps, you will use new multitouch gestures to navigate to the home screen and also to launch the app switcher,” the source was quoted as saying.

The iPad 2 is expected to launch in April, so it would be the first gadget to deploy the new interface. However, the tipster said the exact same change would be making its way to the next generation iPhone as well.

And since no one can ever have enough rumors to feed on, the mysterious insider also said the Mac software package Photo Booth will be available for the next iPad, which leads even more credence to the idea that it will have a built-in camera.

People were rightly skeptical when the iPhone first launched with only one button, but it’s grown to become the best-selling smartphone of all time. We’ll see if this pushing of the envelope works a second time.

Because it’s Apple, don’t expect confirmation of any of this until the day of, or just a few days before, the iPad 2 is actually ready to order.