The QR codes are extremely popular in China through the use of mobile payments. It is a bar code system first invented to maintain track of components by a Japanese automotive parts manufacturer.
Now, The Chinese market's tech giants are shifting towards a new mobile payment scheme - facial recognition. Companies such as Ant Financials, an arm of Alibaba and Tencent-backed WeChat, have already begun using facial recognition.
Compared to the QR codes technique, the facial recognition-based payment system offers greater convenience and safety as well as portability. It is now being rolled out nationwide in China. The technology makes even QR codes seem old-fashioned. Also, using this new technique could further increase the use of mobile payments as it could introduce a new wave of less tech-savvy customers like the elderly. Customers simply make a purchase by posing in front of point-of-sale (POS) machines equipped with cameras, after linking an image of their face to a digital payment system or bank account.
Chinese shoppers now need no cash, no cards, no wallet, and no smartphones. The country is fast embracing facial payment technology.
No privacy in China