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Xiaomi CEO to meet Samsung executives on components

By Korea Herald

Published : July 13, 2016 - 09:38

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[THE INVESTOR] Xiaomi founder and chief executive Lei Jun is expected to visit Seoul this week to have a meeting with Samsung Electronics executives possibly on components partnership, industry sources said on July 13.

This is the first time that the chief of the hot-selling Chinese smartphone-maker is visiting Korea, home turf of its archrival Samsung.

Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun

According to sources, the CEO will meet Jeon Young-hyun, president of Samsung’s memory chip business division who oversees chips for smartphones.

Except mobile application processors, Xiaomi is outsourcing chip products such as the crucial memory chips with high-density capacity.

He is also speculated to meet Samsung Display executives. With the planned organic light-emitting diode display adoption by Apple, other smartphone-makers, including those from China, are expected to use OLED display screen for their next high-end models.

Currently, Samsung dominates more than 90 percent of the mobile OLED market.

Partnering with Xiaomi, dubbed as “China’s Apple,” is also a boon for the Korean tech giant as it could diversify clients in the all-important China market beyond Apple and Samsung phones. 

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)