MWC 2019: Man implants RFID chip live on stage

The Mobile World Congress is the biggest showdown in the history of smartphones. The event witnesses a lot of new concepts and designs each year. However, this year the trade show saw something that has never happened before. A man voluntarily inserted a chip under his skin, live on stage.

Another man who already had the chip implanted under his skin demonstrated the procedure of making online payments connecting the chip with his smartphone. Edgar Pons implanted the radio frequency identification (RFID) chip because it contained access codes to his house doors.

"It is super, for me, very useful, because I have an automatic house," Pons told Reuters, adding he can also "withdraw it very easily, simply making a little cut and pressing it".

"The chip is the size of a grain of sand or two and it's covered in a material that is biocompatible so our body doesn't degrade it over time," said Alex Rodriguez Vitello, a physicist at technology company Alpha.

Besides, another man called Pau who already has a chip implanted in his body made a transaction just by placing his smartphone over the skin where the chip is placed.
"(What) we have been seeing now is what the future of payments could be," said Anna Puigoriol, financial services manager at Sabadell.

Apart from the futuristic chip, MWC 2019 also saw the launch of first foldable and 5G smartphones. Samsung launched its Galaxy Fold, while Huawei unveiled its Mate X. Samsung has also launched a 5G variant of its Galaxy S10.