Samsung's first Tizen phones are coming within weeks
Samsung’s attempts to break away from the clutches of Android have so far been futile, but now the South Korean manufacturer has confirmed the first Tizen phones will launch this quarter.
Having previously faced several lengthy delays, the first Tizen phones will now hit certain markets by the end of June, Yoon Han-kil, Samsung’s Senior Vice President for Product Strategy confirmed in an interview with Reuters.
“We had tried to launch [Tizen] with DoCoMo and Orange… but couldn’t because of poor market conditions,” Yoon stated.
He added: “We have changed our strategy and will release the phones in a few countries where we can do well.”
Confirming that two separate Tizen handsets will launch during Q2, Yoon has revealed that instead of targeting markets such of the UK and US at first – markets where Android is established – the manufacturer will push its Tizen phones in to areas where Google’s OS has failed to gain market dominance.
While Yoon has confirmed Android “still needs to be our main business,” confirmation of the first Tizen phone launches marks a major step forward for the platform.
Yoon added that Tizen devices will need to account for at least 15 per cent of its smartphone efforts moving forward in order to be a viable direction.
Although set to become the first Tizen powered smartphones, the new handset offerings will not be the first to run the OS designed and built by Samsung.
The recently launched Samsung Gear 2 and Samsung Gear 2 Neo smartwatches are both powered by the Tizen OS – although in truth offer almost identical interfaces and user experiences to last year’s Android powered Samsung Galaxy Gear.
Despite this move to Tizen for its leading wearables, Yoon reportedly confirmed that Samsung will launch an all new, Android-powered smartwatch later this year.
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