Alipay+ and Meizu debut smart‑glasses e‑wallet payment in Hong Kong


Ant International's Alipay+ announced it has reached a global milestone, completing the world's first real-world e-wallet payment using smart glasses. In partnership with global technology company Meizu, the transaction leveraged the Meizu StarV Snap AR glasses and AlipayHK in Hong Kong.

Following an earlier debut in China with Rokid AR glasses, Alipay+ now enables seamless payments via QR scan or voice command, powered by AI-driven voice interfaces, contextual command processing, and voiceprint authentication, all of which are embedded directly in the smart glasses.

Industry observers remarked that this leap underscores a global trend: smart glasses moving beyond novelty to real-world utility. Google, Meta, Amazon and Samsung, for example, are investing heavily in AI‑powered wearables, banking on next‑gen extended-reality devices as everyday assistants.

With 5G, better optics and lighter form factors, feasibility has arrived. Unlike early flops such as Google Glass, today's hardware delivers intuitive, hands‑free value, whether for navigation, live translation, health monitoring or, now, payments, Aliplay+ pointed out.

A new technical benchmark

"By unlocking payment capabilities, smart glasses will rapidly transform into the next‑gen personal device like the mobile phone," Alipay+ CEO Jiangming Yang commented, adding that wallet and fintech partners worldwide can tap into Alipay+'s toolkit, including global NFC for QR‑and‑card payments and AI payments powered by the Model Context Protocol (MCP) in the GenAI Cockpit.

Meizu's XR Division General Manager Peng Guo emphasised that this "sets a new technological benchmark for the industry," enhancing smart glasses' practicality and spurring AR sector development.

Alipay+ feels this new milestone dovetails with its expansive footprint: over 1.7 billion user accounts across 36 global e-wallets, national QR schemes and banking apps, serving upwards of 100 million merchants in 70+ markets. The glasses payment solution will roll out to partner e-wallets throughout 2025 as they integrate Alipay+'s enhanced SDK stack, the company added.

PaySpace Magazine noted thtat, in a broader context, smart glasses adoption is on the rise: there are currently around 3.5 million augmented-reality glasses in use globally, with forecasts expecting tens of millions more by 2028, and potentially hundreds of millions by 2030, particularly as embedded payments add tangible utility.

According to Alipay+ and Meizu, this rollout in Hong Kong shifts the payment paradigm once again: with integrated voice and vision AI, hands‑free purchases aren't just futuristic—they're here.

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