Samsung Confirms Tizen Phones are Coming Soon

While talking about the upcoming Galaxy S5, Yoon Han-kil, senior vice president of Samsung's product strategy team, confirmed in an interview that the company's first Tizen phone will arrive at the end of Q2 2014. He said Tizen devices will likely be used to reach markets that Android cannot address.

"We had tried to launch (Tizen) with DoCoMo and Orange ... but couldn't because of poor market conditions. We have changed our strategy and will release the phones in a few countries where we can do well," he said.  Yoon added that in order to be successful, Tizen would have to account for up to 15 percent of Samsung's total smartphone shipments.

In an interview with Reuters, Yoon said that the first Tizen smartphone will be a high-end model. The second model will mainly focus on the middle of the market to "drive volume growth." Samsung already has one Tizen device out on the market: the second version of its Gear smartwatch, which went on sale last week.

Tizen is seen as Samsung's move to break away from Android. For now, its Android smartphone business will continue to pay the bills and fill their pockets with cash. However, Android sounds like a crutch that will likely be tossed aside once Tizen picks up enough speed to tackle both Android and Apple's iPhone line.

The interview points out that Samsung wants to create its own ecosystem with Tizen, and reduce its reliance on Android. But Samsung has faced problems along the way to the market, including several delays in product launches, which have weakened expectations. Samsung's global patent cross-licensing agreement with Google hasn't helped expectations either.

Unfortunately, Yoon didn't disclose any information about the Tizen launch such as in what countries the phone will be available, what carriers have signed on to carry Tizen phones, and the hardware details regarding the two phones. More of that, we expect, will be revealed towards the end of Q2 2014 if development stays on track.

Will Tizen be a success? That remains to be seen. Samsung is an Android powerhouse, and will obviously keep that momentum going until Tizen becomes a heavy hitter in the mobile sector. Not too long ago a company executive said that Tizen and its host smartphone wouldn't make a debut until it's perfect. First impressions are highly important.

  • JD88
    Well at least Tizen is an open-source, Linux based operating system. I'm all for more competition if they can innovate while providing an open platform. Innovation is going to be key though. An Android clone with Samsung's B list copies of Google Apps is not going to impress very many people.
    Reply
  • web11
    Time to abandon Samsung if they will stop backing Android. I guess it's time to go back to HTC.
    Reply
  • wemakeourfuture
    Tizen will be complete trash like Bada. Samsung cannot write good software.
    If they flip their OS for mobile and tablets to Tizen, time to short Samsung stock big time.
    Reply
  • ChillsandThrills
    13114291 said:
    Tizen will be complete trash like Bada. Samsung cannot write good software.
    If they flip their OS for mobile and tablets to Tizen, time to short Samsung stock big time.

    Someone who trashes a new product before they have experienced it shows they have nothing to add to the conversation. I welcome a new OS. I want many more. Linux shall rule them all!
    Reply
  • Johan Kryger Haglert
    But.. But.. My Humble bundle games is for Android! ;D

    (Do it run Dalvik?)
    Reply
  • Johan Kryger Haglert
    13114291 said:
    Tizen will be complete trash like Bada. Samsung cannot write good software.
    If they flip their OS for mobile and tablets to Tizen, time to short Samsung stock big time.

    Someone who trashes a new product before they have experienced it shows they have nothing to add to the conversation. I welcome a new OS. I want many more. Linux shall rule them all!
    But it already do. The desktop kinda died before Linux got a grip on it. It rule the rest though (and yeah, the desktop isn't completely dead.)
    Reply
  • abbadon_34
    Who? What? Tell me this is some third world piece mistakenly posted on the US site.
    Reply
  • wemakeourfuture
    13114291 said:
    Tizen will be complete trash like Bada. Samsung cannot write good software.
    If they flip their OS for mobile and tablets to Tizen, time to short Samsung stock big time.

    Someone who trashes a new product before they have experienced it shows they have nothing to add to the conversation. I welcome a new OS. I want many more. Linux shall rule them all!


    You and the other 5 people who up-voted your silly little comment are typical Samsung fans that blindly think what Samsung makes is some how amazing and special.

    First off Tizen versions have been around and its highly unimpressive.

    https://www.tizen.org/

    Secondly, Samsung has a history of really bad Operating Systems and software in general compared to the market

    Third, I hope they have the balls to replace their products lines with their "innovation" because the company will lose billions in marketvalue and revenues. They're greatest success is using Android and they'll learn a hard lesson that their alternative is junk.
    Reply
  • Bloob
    I was quite pessimistic about Tizen when it started, and for some time after that, but now I'm slowly getting a bit excited, if for nothing else than bringing more competition to the mobile space, and perhaps, more awareness and polish to cross-platform developer tools. I wish operating systems would compete on their own merits, and not on the merits of the app market they are tied to.
    Reply
  • acadia11
    I'm sorry this is a stupid move. What gain does Samsung have in creating yet another ecosystem developers will need to write apps. Poor investment IMHO.
    Reply