Chinese electronics firm Xiaomi is ramping up efforts to infiltrate the Korean market, the home turf of tech giants Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.
Xiaomi’s budget air purifiers and ultra-high definition TVs are poised to hit the domestic market this week. The Chinese company has also filed a patent for its mobile payment service Xiaomi Pay -- also known as Mi Pay -- in Korea.
Lei Jun, the chief executive of Chinese electronics firm Xiaomi. (Yonhap)
There is speculation that Xiaomi’s upcoming mid-range smartphone Mi5 will feature the near-field-communication mobile payment service. The patent filing in the Korean market indicates that the Chinese tech firm plans to roll out its smartphone here.
Xiaomi’s previous attempts to introduce its smartphones in Korea have not been successful due to pressure from local competitors -- reportedly Samsung and LG - on local mobile carriers and online retail chains that tried to bring Xiaomi’s products here.
The brawl between the Chinese firm and Korean tech firms, however, led to publicity for Xiaomi.
The Beijing-headquartered firm’s affordable electronics and mobile products, including portable batteries, speakers, and smartphones, have appealed to customers in China, India and Southeast Asia.
Samsung and Apple have also spurred competition in the world’s mobile payment market, with their own mobile payment services Samsung Pay and Apple Pay offered on their high-end smartphones.
Samsung has recently teamed up with nine Chinese banks, including China CITIC Bank, and China Construction Bank, posing a challenge to Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and Internet firm Tencent, which run Alipay and Tenpay, respectively.
By Kim Young-won (
wone0102@heraldcorp.com)
