(Yicai) Sept. 19 -- Although detonating batteries may be possible in some communication devices, it is unlikely to occur in mobile phones due to the safeguards in place, Chinese security experts told Yicai after a series of deadly device explosions recently rocked Lebanon.

Mobile phone makers tend to be larger than manufacturers of radios such as pagers and walkie talkies and thus have closer supervision over their supply chain, security experts said.

On Sept. 17, pagers explosions in Lebanon have left 12 people dead so far and almost 3,000 injured, according to the country’s Ministry of Health. Yesterday, detonating walkie-talkies killed 20 people and injured 450.

Mobile phones have strict security protections, unlike pagers, and it is difficult to tamper with its firmware, Li Zhongrui, a technical expert at security research agency Darknavy Technology, told Yicai. While it is possible to embed explosives and backdoor chips in a pager, with a smartphone, if this should happen, the system may fail to start.

Planting backdoor chips or software in mobile phones is probably 10,000 times more difficult than it is in pagers, said Wang Qi, chairman and chief executive officer of Singapore-based Darknavy. The security of mobile phone systems has improved greatly compared to 10 years ago.

Battery-induced explosions take five to 10 seconds to heat up and generate flames, Wang said. They do not combust immediately.

It is possible for mobile phone batteries to explode and catch fire, but not instantaneously as in this incident, Li said. "We have manually modified other devices’ voltage and other specifications which should in theory create an explosion, but we have not seen this happen with cellphones."

Editor: Kim Taylor