Boeing, BlackBerry working on a smartphone that would 'self-destruct'

It seems like something out of an old episode of Mission Impossible or Inspector Gadget—an ultra-secure phone that self destructs. But such a phone might be close to reality, courtesy of Boeing and BlackBerry.

According to Reuters (via Recode), Boeing and BlackBerry are currently jointly developing a super-secure smartphone geared toward governments and other groups or individuals who require high security standards. And if someone goes and tampers with the device, it’ll render itself inoperable.

We’re not talking about something that burns itself or explodes or anything like that, though; instead, Slashgear says that “all data will be erased” from the phone “if the tamper-proof casing is taken apart.” So it’s not as dramatic as, say, something from spy movies, but it certainly sounds effective.

We don’t yet know when this phone will be available, but Reuters says that “Boeing has begun offering the phone to potential customers.”

Why this matters: It should go without saying, but smartphone security is kind of a big deal, and smartphone owners have countless options for keeping their data safe. iPhone owners have the Touch ID fingerprint sensor and Apple’s Find My iPhone location and data security services at their disposal, for example, and Android users can sign up for one of countless phone security services.

Although Boeing and BlackBerry designed its phone with governments in mind, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to expect smartphone makers to try and bring similar “self-destruct” security mechanisms to consumer-level devices.

Even more security measures

Of course, the self-destruct mechanism isn’t all this phone offers: According to Recode, the phone will also work with biometric sensors and be able to connect to satellites, presumably for secure lines of communication. It’ll also use BlackBerry Enterprise Service 12, a phone management and security platform for use in businesses, and come with dual SIM cards so it can connect to a wider array of wireless networks.