Death by smartphone: the .38 calibre mobile that really sends a message | Peter Bradshaw

The firearm that resembles a mobile is ingenious, but surely its creator has missed a trick - a phone that actually is a gun. It's going to happen

Until so recently the selfie-stick was the top gizmo of choice for gadgety-minded people everywhere. But in the United States, something else is now hogging the limelight: the Ideal Conceal, a .38 calibre handgun that folds up to look exactly like an iPhone-sized smartphone. Unfolded, it fires two shots before needing to be reloaded and costs $395 (275).

Advance orders are flooding in. Its inventor, Kirk Kjellberg of Minnesota, says the idea came to him when he was walking through a restaurant. Being in possession of a "concealed carry" permit, his weapon was just visible. A small child said: "Mommy, mommy, that man's got a gun!" And Kjellberg says he thought to himself: "There's got to be another way to carry without bothering other people."