Samsung is planning to launch a smartphone in India that is based on its Tizen OS, according to a latest report from The Economic Times. The South Korean tech giant will most likely bring the smartphones based on its homegrown OS in India by November this year.
Tizen is Samsung’s initiative to reduce its dependence on Google and carve out a niche for itself in mobile software and services. The report further goes on saying that the Tizen smartphone would be a budget device and will co-exist with other Android devices.
“We started late, but we are very focused. We are not shooting in the wild. This is a game that has to be led by the device manufacturer and not the pipe (telecom operators).
said Tarun Malik, director of media solutions center, South West Asia to ET.
Malik and his team has been involved in boosting the Tizen based devices. No other information about the Tizen based smartphone is known as of yet. Samsung Z, the first Tizen powered smartphone was announced in June this year. It is speculated that Samsung SM-Z130E or SM-Z130H might enter India and cost around $200.
Samsung is facing a tough competition in India from homegrown makers like Micromax and Karbonn. The latest move from Samsung follows Google’s recent Android One initiative that involves budget handsets with pure Android experience.