Apple could ditch the home button for pressure-sensitive casing in future iPhones

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday granted Apple (AAPL) a patent for a new way to control an iPhone by squeezing it. The patent describes a system that could measure and react to different amounts of pressure applied to a device’s external casing. The invention can be utilized by a large range of electronic devices, such as smartphones, laptops and perhaps even Apple’s rumored iWatch. Apple has relied heavily on its physical home button in its iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices in the past, but a pressure-sensitive casing could give the company more freedom when designing its next-generation products.