Hong Kong's government plans to replace all the city state's smart ID cards between 2018 and 2022, according to documents filed in its legislative council.The process will cost about HK$3.3 billion and is necessary because cards issued between 2003 and 2007, would exceed their serviceable lifespan of 10 years by 2017, reported the South China Morning Post.The government said the introduction of new ID cards would avoid “circumstances where a large number of [smart ID cards would fail] in a short period of time”.According to a report by the South China Morning Post, the new cards will support wireless technology, and have expanded storage capacity for a higher-resolution photo as well as updated fingerprint templates for more secure and accurate identity verification.The cards will also be more durable, have a better appearance and offer improved quality in text printing.”We expect that as technology continues to advance, cases of forgery of our smart cards may become more prevalent if we do not introduce any new security features or chip-architecture technology,” the government said in the paper.Hong Kong has about nine million smart ID cards in circulation, according to the report.
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