Samsung has finally embraced the latest OS launched by Google for wearable devices, “Android-wear”. In an exclusive interview with Reuters, Samsung’s Vice president for Product strategy, Hankel Yoon, said that Samsung is planning to launch a new android smartphone and a high end, Tizen smartphone, later this year.
Samsung’s promises to launch a Tizen based smartphone are not new. Previous year, Samsung gave a similar roadmap as to how they intend to launch a Tizen based smartphone.
Tizen is a Linux-based operating system for devices—including smartphones, tablets, in-vehicle infotainment(IVI) devices, smart TVs, laptops and smart cameras. Tizen is a project within the Linux Foundation and is governed by a Technical Steering Group (TSG) composed of Samsung and Intel among others.
Samsung has already used Tizen in its wearable devices, Galaxy gear 2 and Galaxy gear neo after receiving a rough reception for android based, Galaxy gear.
Although Sony has declined to use “Android wear” for its smartwatches, Samsung has confirmed that it will be introducing smartwatches based on Google’s android wear OS.
The main highlight of the interview was Yoon saying that Samsung is preparing to launch a non-android smartphone (probably by Q2 ), later this year. Even last year, Samsung said that it was ready to introduce Tizen based smartphone, but the original plan did not pan out due to “poor market conditions,” according to Yoon.
