As China turns towards facial recognition payments, are QR codes on their way out?
- In cities around China, vendors from supermarkets to bakeries have adopted facial recognition payments technology
The QR code, a bar code system first invented by a Japanese automotive parts maker to keep track of components, found widespread popularity in China through the use of mobile payments.
But as the familiar square mosaic gains greater popularity outside China, the tech giants that helped to drive its adoption are already moving away from the app-based payment method to something even more portable: your face.
In different cities around China, merchants from supermarkets to bakeries have adopted facial recognition payments technology from Alibaba-affiliated Ant Financial and Tencent’s WeChat Pay to make the payments process as frictionless as possible. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
Why? Because face recognition technology brings the next step in payments convenience for consumers and also has the potential to bring in a whole new wave of less tech-savvy users, such as the elderly or those who struggle to read and write.
On the business front, facial recognition payments are also expected to improve efficiency.
Alipay first rolled out its Dragonfly facial recognition system – an upgrade of its Smile-to-Pay system – in December last year, and since then has expanded it to over 300 cities in China.