This being a hack is improbable in my opinion. If you see the pictures of the aftermath, the damage is too big to be the result of a lithium battery explosion. Moreover the devices exploded at the same time in different locations (won’t happen if they made the battery overheat till explosion) HA probably bought a bad batch with implanted explosives and they set it off now.
The context clearly explains what OP means. The meaning is that "This is not something that is achieved via simply hacking a normal device remotely. This is something that is achieved via doing something extra to the device first, and maybe then hacking it remotely."
Another thing is that if we begin to use "hack" for every means of attack and unauthorized access, then the word loses its meaning. There is no supply chain hack, but there is a supply chain attack.
Pretty much, yeah. The hack was used only to activate it remotely, and in pager systems, it should not be a hard task. But I highly doubt it was only due to battery overheating. I have seen scooter batteries exploding before, and they don’t burst as quickly as this one.
There's footage on Twitter showing an actual detonation, with a bang. Not a huge blast (the man falls to the ground injured, but bystanders seemed unharmed). Definitely not the rapid burning 'whoosh' of a battery fire.