Samsung to release its Tizen phone in 2014

By Andy Boxall November 11, 2013

tizen phone canceled by ntt docomo — Image used with permission by copyright holder

A Samsung executive has warned the company’s first Tizen-powered smartphone won’t be released until 2014, putting the device’s debut several months behind the schedule indicated by Samsung earlier this year. Tizen is a new mobile operating system, jointly produced by Samsung and Intel, which is regarded by the pair as an alternative to Android.

The news of the delay comes from a report published by the Korea Herald, covering a local summit on Smart TVs, another market where Tizen will be used. Quoting the head of Samsung’s visual display division, it’s stated a Tizen TV won’t be out until after the OS makes its smartphone debut, which is now expected in 2014.

Samsung announced Tizen during Mobile World Congress in February, and promises were made the first device using the OS would come before the end of the year. It wasn’t only going to be on affordable hardware either, as these Tizen phones were said to have, “The best specifications,” conjuring up images of a Galaxy S-like Tizen phone.

Of course, no such phone has been announced, although a developer phone known as the Z9005 Redwood (which you can see in the video above) has been spotted on occasion, but no firm specs have been provided. Just because Samsung will use Tizen on high-end phones, doesn’t mean it has forgotten about budget models, as there is talk a version named Tizen Mobile Lite will be offered on phones running 256MB of RAM and low resolution, 320 x 240 pixel displays.

A further delay in Tizen’s launch puts it well behind Mozilla’s Firefox OS, which is already on sale inside phones produced by ZTE and LG, while Jolla’s Sailfish OS is still expected to reach customers before the end of the year. These three, along with the similarly delayed Ubuntu Touch, are seen by their respective champions as future challengers to the market leaders Android and iOS.

Will Mobile World Congress 2014 be the launchpad for the first Tizen smartphone?

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Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…

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