'Was It This Much?' Chinese Products Overwhelmingly Dominate Living Rooms... Samsung and LG Begin Pursuit

China's Roborock Dominates Domestic Market Since 2022
Following Samsung, LG to Launch RoboKing on 15th
Challenges with All-in-One New Product

Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are launching a full-scale battle against the Chinese brand Roborock, which dominates the domestic robot vacuum cleaner market.

On the 15th, LG Electronics officially released a new robot vacuum cleaner, the ‘LG Roboking AI All-in-One.’ This product features an ‘All-Free’ function that automatically completes dust suction, mopping, washing, and drying all at once when the user presses start or sets a reservation.

LG Electronics All-in-One Robot Vacuum Cleaner ‘LG RoboKing AI All-in-One’
[Image source=Provided by LG Electronics]

The price is 2.19 million KRW for the model with an automatic water supply and drainage kit. The freestanding product without the kit is sold for 1.99 million KRW.

In the early days, the domestic home appliance industry criticized Roborock products that combined dust suction and mopping functions. The reason was that attaching the mop could cause unpleasant odors. In fact, such complaints were raised among consumers.

However, Roborock successfully dominated the domestic market and has held the number one position in the domestic robot vacuum cleaner market for three years since 2022. This was the result of focusing on performance over price and solving the odor problem.

According to a global market research firm, Roborock holds the top market share in the domestic robot vacuum cleaner market in the first half of this year, accounting for 46.5%. In the high-end product segment priced over 1.5 million KRW per unit, it has an overwhelming share of 65.7%.

Samsung Electronics All-in-One Robot Vacuum Cleaner 'Bespoke AI Steam'
[Image Source: Provided by Samsung Electronics]

The domestic home appliance industry has also taken urgent action. Earlier, Samsung Electronics released the all-in-one robot vacuum cleaner ‘Bespoke AI Steam’ in April. This product also features automatic mop washing, sterilization, and hot air drying functions. The price is 1.79 million KRW, and the online-exclusive product ‘Bespoke Steam’ is sold for 1.39 million KRW.

However, other Chinese brand Dreame is also evaluated as highly competitive besides Roborock. In particular, Dreame is attracting customer attention with its new product ‘X40 Ultra,’ boasting the industry’s best suction power. It was sold out in just 13 minutes on the Naver Shopping Live channel on the day of its release.

Since there is a loyal customer base for Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics products in the domestic market, there are opinions that a counterattack is possible.