"The opening of offline stores in Korea will expand touchpoints with customers. It will be the starting point for Xiaomi's after-sales service to take a leap forward."
Andrew Li, head of Xiaomi's International Business Division for East Asia, explained this during a press conference held at the Conrad Seoul in Yeouido on the 25th regarding the country's first offline store. Xiaomi Korea is set to open a 'Mi Store' inside the IFC Mall in Yeouido, Seoul, starting from the 28th.
Regarding the choice of Yeouido as the location for the first store, Li noted, "I thought Yeouido is a significant landmark and place in Seoul." He added, "The Mi Store will be an integrated store where product sales and after-sales service can be done in one place, and it will also provide after-sales service for large home appliances," stating, "The offline store will be a space for consumers to experience a better user experience. We plan to expand offline stores." However, Li did not disclose specific numbers on how many stores they would increase in the future.
Li emphasized that the opening of offline stores in Korea is important for the expansion of the Xiaomi ecosystem. He stated, "Xiaomi's key strategy is to build a 'Human×Car×Home' smart ecosystem that connects every aspect of daily life through innovative technology," explaining that "Xiaomi's offline stores are key to realizing this core strategy, and Korea is an important country for executing this strategy."
However, Xiaomi noted that Korea has not been selected as a global first launch country. Li stated, "The products currently being sold in Korea are already those released in China, but we will work to designate Korea as a global first launch country in the future." He added, "However, in the case of the Xiaomi Band, it will be a product launched first in Korea."
Xiaomi also announced that there are currently no plans to launch electric vehicles in Korea. Li explained, "Even if you order an electric vehicle in China now, you won't receive it for at least 10 months," adding, "Currently, we are focusing on the domestic market in China rather than global sales, so we have no immediate plans to launch in Korea."
On this day, Li announced that the flagship smartphone model, 'Xiaomi 15', will be launched in Korea alongside the opening of the first store. The domestic release prices have been set at 1,109,900 won (256GB) and 1,149,500 won (512GB). During the initial sales period (June 28 to July 6), the early bird prices for the 256GB model will be 999,900 won and the 512GB model will be sold for 1,039,500 won respectively. However, there were numerous questions about how the price difference is not significant compared to Samsung Electronics flagship smartphone 'Galaxy S25', resulting in lower cost performance. In response, Li commented, "The discounted price during the initial sales period is a price with merit. Such opportunities are very rare." The release price for the Galaxy S25 256GB model is 1,155,000 won, while the 512GB model is 1,298,000 won.