More than one in 10 (11%) of UK consumers have made an in-store mobile payment and do so occasionally, with 2% doing so “wherever possible”, research from price comparison service uSwitch reveals. 6% of Britons value mobile payment technology as the most useful feature of their smartphone, rising to 8% among 18- to 34-year-olds.

Of the 71% who have either never made an in-store mobile payment (67%) or have previously but don’t any more (4%), 31% are concerned about the security risks and more than half (59%) prefer to use more traditional methods like cash or card.

The 2,002 respondents surveyed also believe they are more than twice as likely to use mobile payments (21%) over other recent innovations such as virtual reality headsets (10%), and are three times more likely to pay using NFC than through a home service like Google Home or Amazon Echo (7%).

The survey also showed:

• 13% ranked fingerprint ID as the most useful feature in their smartphone — rising to 15% among 18- to 34-year-olds
• Men were more likely to find the fingerprint ID feature more useful than women (14% men, 11% women)
• 4% ranked virtual or voice-activated assistants as the most useful feature
• GPS topped the list of useful features with 42%, followed by messaging apps such as WhatsApp (36%)
• Iris scanners were favoured by 2% of respondents.

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