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Privacy-minded tech fiends will be intrigued by this: according to a recent report from FinancialExpress.com, a new smartphone is on the way that will seek to defeat "snoopers" of all types and keep user data completely secure from prying eyes or ears.

The phone in question has rather forebodingly been called "the Blackphone," and according to the device's website, it will be the "world's first smartphone to put privacy and control above everything else." Where other phone developers like Apple and Samsung seem to focus largely on making their devices sleeker, faster, and more powerful, Blackphone will supposedly ditch the flash and style for a substantive, comprehensive personal security system. The phone will make its official debut and will be available for preorders at next month's Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona.

Developed by Silent Circle, an American technology company, and Geeksphone, a Spanish phone manufacturer, Blackphone will implement various layers of cryptographic signals and encryption protections to ensure that users' private phone conversations, video calls, and text message interchanges are kept just that: private. In addition, Blackphone will bring untraceable privacy to everything from web browsing to file exchanges.

Since 2013 saw many privacy-related questions being dragged out into the open – from the NSA's PRISM spying program to the hackers who so quickly and efficiently found ways to crack the iPhone 5S and its fingerprint access scanner – the Blackphone will almost undoubtedly pique the interest of a wide range of different phone users.

However, before the phone can become the "be all, end all" of privacy in the smartphone industry, the two companies behind it will have to answer a few questions. For instance, Silent Circle and Geeksphone have not yet discussed how phone call or text message encryption would work between a Blackphone and a less secure device, like an iPhone or a Samsung Galaxy. No matter how secure the Blackphone is, encryption and cryptography won't do much good if a hacker or snoop can simply gain access to data by manipulating security vulnerabilities in a second phone or device. The Blackphone makers also need to explain how they will be able to provide industrial-strength security without charging and arm and a leg for their handset.

Regardless of the answers to those questions, however, the idea of a phone built to protect privacy is an attractive one. According to leaked government information, the NSA intercepts hundreds of millions of mobile texts a day, spying on citizens and mining everything from phone contacts to credit card numbers. A phone with encryption that not even the government could break, therefore, could instantly mark itself as a viable contender in the crowded smartphone market.