Boeing’s Black: This Android phone will self-destruct

Schematics for the FCC labeling of the Boeing Black, a secure Android smartphone for a very select set of customers.

Earlier this month, Boeing submitted details about its new high-end smartphone, simply called “Black,” to the FCC, along with a request that most of those details be kept secret. The Black (FCC ID H8V-BLK) is an Android phone with a feature for a very specific demographic: it will self-destruct if tampered with.

In a letter to the FCC, Boeing’s counsel Bruce Olcott wrote, “Boeing’s Black phone will be sold primarily to government agencies and companies engaged in contractual activities with those agencies that are related to defense and homeland security. The device will be marketed and sold in a manner such that low-level technical and operational information about the product will not be provided to the general public.”

As part of the justification for requesting secrecy, Olcott added that the phone is a “sealed device” that will be sold with an end-user nondisclosure agreement. “There are no serviceable parts on Boeing’s Black phone, and any attempted servicing or replacing of parts would destroy the product,” Olcott wrote. “Any attempt to break open the casing of the device would trigger functions that would delete the data and software contained within the device and make the device inoperable.”