Movie fans have seen self-destructing smartphones in the movies where protagonists - usually spies, get the message and just throw the phone away to explode. Actually, these sci-fi gadgets ala-James Bond are already here after developers from Saudi Arabia succeeded in making phones that will self destruct in as little as 10 seconds when activated.

There are two ways to achieve self-destruct, says electrical engineers from King Abdulla University of Science and Technology. Smartphones are embedded with polymer layers that expands and explodes through a remote smartphone app triggered by a second device. Otherwise, these phones can also explode when subjected to pressure.

Scientifically speaking, the phone's battery will send a signal to polymer electrodes so that it can expand up to 7 times its size, according to IBTimes. The effect can be achieved within 10-15 seconds, thereby crushing the vital parts inside the phone ad making data and information irrecoverable. In other words, chips, SIM cards or silicon PCB are sitting on top of the polymer and they will literally crumple once activated.

In an IEEE Spectrum interview with developer Muhammad Hussain, he said that there are instances where the users credentials and sensitive information are compromised like in cases where the phone got stolen. This mechanism can provide a fail-safe to protect the user.

Hussain also stressed that they are not really targeting the general public once they start manufacturing. Rather, entities that need extra layer of protection such as spies, intelligence experts, corporate executives, bankers and collectors.

Here is the great news; Hussain said that fitting polymers in smartphones for them to explode is inexpensive. Current devices can be retrofitted with as cheap as $15 which is significantly cheaper compared to the Darpa design that uses an exploding glass chip. Furthermore, the temperature it needs to "explode" can be tweaked from 80 to 250 degrees. After all, users don't want to scald anyone who just accidentally found an exploding smartphone.