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.