- asiabits
- Posts
- 🕶️ Alipay Launches Smart Glass Payment in China
🕶️ Alipay Launches Smart Glass Payment in China
Reading time: 4 min 54 sec
☕️ Good morning comrades,
A Chinese lottery winner put his ticket in his pocket and threw it into the washing machine before redeeming it.
Lucky break: the ticket survived with just a few scratches, and the young man is now about $1.32 million richer (after 20 % income tax).
Not financial advice, but worth mentioning (not just for lottery winners): Popmart shares have jumped 565.5 % over the past year!
🚀 Benchmarks
| Index | Current | 24 h | YTD | 52W High |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇩🇪 DAX | 23,317.81 | –0.50 % | +16.45 % | 24,479.42 |
| 🇺🇸 NASDAQ | 19,546.27 | +0.13 % | +1.38 % | 20,204.58 |
| 🇰🇷 KOSPI | 2,962.85 | –0.31 % | +23.51 % | 2,998.62 |
| 🇯🇵 Nikkei | 38,858.52 | +0.90 % | –1.07 % | 42,426.77 |
| 🇭🇰 Hang Seng | 23,710.69 | –1.12 % | +20.83 % | 24,874.39 |
| 🇨🇳 Shanghai | 3,386.92 | +0.04 % | +3.87 % | 3,674.41 |
🔢 Facts & Figures
15%
The reduction in international flights Air India will operate with wide-body jets through at least mid-July due to enhanced safety checks after the 787 crash.
20%
The year-on-year drop in average export prices of Japanese cars to the US in May 2025, as manufacturers like Toyota absorb Trump’s new tariffs to keep sticker prices stable.
45%
Increase in tourist trips from China to Japan. A total of 3.69 million foreign visitors traveled to Japan in May 2025, a new monthly record (up 21.5 % year-on-year).
Top Bit: 💳🕶️ AR Payment with Alipay: Glasses Instead of Wallet
China’s AR specialist Rokid has integrated Alipay’s payment platform directly into its new “Rokid Glasses.” A simple voice command is all it takes to pay at the register. Sales launched in China yesterday, after 250,000 preorders had already been placed.
Details
🕶️ Hardware setup: 75 g glasses with Micro-OLED displays, a portable battery hub, and an integrated Qualcomm chip; offers multiple virtual desktops and a cinema mode.
💬 Payment flow: “Rokid, pay 10 RMB” → merchant’s QR code is captured → voice is verified → confirmation appears on the display.
⚡ Speed: Checkout in under 5 s (versus 20–30 s with a phone QR scan).
🔐 Security: Multidimensional Alipay risk checks plus biometric voice verification.
Why it matters
First-mover advantage: Whoever establishes seamless in-store AR payments first will set future international standards.
Consumer impact: Reduced wait times translate into higher brick-and-mortar sales.
Investor signal: Frictionless AR commerce opens new revenue streams for both hardware and fintech providers.
Background
Mobile QR-based payments already account for around 92 % of China’s mobile transaction volume. AR glasses are viewed as the next logical channel to embed digital services into everyday offline life.
Alongside Rokid, Nreal and Xreal are piloting in-store use cases, while US competitors like Apple Vision Pro focus primarily on entertainment and productivity.
Rapid home-market adoption gives Chinese vendors a scaling edge; Western markets generally impose stricter data and security requirements
Further Reading: Business Wire, SCMP
Become Our Partner
Swap bot clicks and influencer blah-blah for genuine relevance.
asiabits reaches a growing daily community of young, international professionals who need to know Asia—before everyone else catches up.
Our native placements give you:
High-quality attention in the right context
100 % format-audience fit
Full brand safety—no BS, no distractions
Position your brand in the most relevant Asia newsletter in German-speaking markets.
👉 [email protected]
Head Of The Day
Kelly Zong
💧 From Heiress to Power Player: As vice CEO, she shook up Hangzhou Wahaha (best name ever). Her father founded China’s No. 1 water-and-dairy beverages company. In 2024, after his death, she mediated a fierce shareholder dispute and officially took the helm in August.
With her new line of energy and tea drinks, the 43-year-old is targeting young, health-conscious fans. Her personal net worth is $5.6 billion (Forbes #667 globally, #66 in China).
Market Bit: 🏗️ Nippon Steel Completes $14 B Acquisition of U.S. Steel
U.S. Steel was the first company worldwide whose valuation exceeded the $1 billion mark.
Details
📝 Completion after 18 months: All U.S. Steel shares were acquired at $55 apiece—bringing an end to the protracted battle for the 123-year-old legacy company.
🛡️ Golden share for Washington: A special share grants the U.S. president veto rights over plant closures, job relocations, name changes, and headquarters moves.
💲 $11 B investment commitment: Modernization of existing blast furnaces plus construction of a new mill by 2028.
🏢 U.S. identity retained: The U.S. Steel brand and Pittsburgh headquarters remain; a board majority and the CEO must be U.S. citizens.
📈 Greater firepower: Capacity will increase to 86 million tonnes of crude steel—bringing Nippon Steel closer to its 100 M target and securing access to U.S. infrastructure contracts.
Why it matters
Industrial policy precedent: The golden-share clause gives Washington unprecedented influence over a private firm—a model for future M&A.
Site guarantee: A billion-dollar modernization promises new jobs and competitive advantages for domestic steel production.
Tariff-wall advantage: Producing “inside the tariff wall” grants Nippon Steel a key cost edge in its largest market.
Top Reads
🇩🇪 German Industry Under Pressure: While China’s exports rose 7 % in 2024, German exports fell 1.7 % to €1.55 trillion (≈ $1.7 trillion). Economists point to high energy costs, Chinese overcapacity, and aggressive pricing strategies as risks—particularly for chemical and automotive manufacturers. More on this.
🚚 JD.com Attacks Meituan in Saudi Arabia: The e-commerce giant has launched “JoyExpress,” its own B2C courier service offering same-day and next-day delivery across nearly all 13 provinces. Beyond parcel delivery, JD Logistics provides warehousing, sorting centers, and full cross-border supply chains—a key move in its Middle East expansion. More on this.
🌋 Volcanic Eruption Cripples Air Traffic to Bali: On Flores Island, Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki spewed an 11 km-high ash cloud. Authorities raised the alert to the maximum level and evacuated several villages. The regional Maumere airport remains closed, and Bali’s airport has canceled or delayed over 30 flights, affecting routes to Australia, Singapore, and India. No casualties have been reported. More on this.
Optional Reads
Japan: Acute shortage of animators threatens the future of the anime industry. More on this.
New Zealand: Halts NZ$ 18.2 million in payments to the Cook Islands due to comprehensive China agreements. More on this.
China: From Friday, evacuates its citizens from Israel via the Taba border crossing into Egypt. More on this.
🐱 Pagoda Guardians on Velvet Paws: At Shanxi’s 1,000-year-old Yingxian Wooden Pagoda, stray guard cats drive off pigeons and rats. In gratitude, they now reside in a specially built mini cat-pagoda.
And, as you’d expect from China, a bit of tech has joined them: a robot dog equipped with a 3D camera scans the pagoda millimeter by millimeter, checking the wood for the tiniest cracks.
Send us your own Fortune Cookie and win an asiabits fan pack!
Spotted something funny or noteworthy about Asia? Mail it to [email protected] and we might feature you here.
How did you like today's issue? |
See you tomorrow,
Thomas, Michael & the Team of asiabits.
Imprint
Editors: Michael Broza, Thomas Derksen, William Hu, Eva Trotno, Cindy Zhang
Content responsibility: Thomas Derksen
Sprezzatura Network Co. Ltd., Workshop A, 29/F, Regent’s Park Prince Industrial Bldg, 706 Prince Edward Rd E, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Partner offer. asiabits assumes no liability for partner deals.
Update email preferences or unsubscribe here.
© 2025 Sprezzatura Network Co. Ltd.