Samsung"s Tizen project has been plagued by delays, not least in the launch of its first handset with the OS to be launched commercially, the Samsung Z, which it announced back in June. That device was originally expected in mid-2013, before being pushed back to the end of the year, and was again delayed in January 2014, before finally making its début a couple of months ago.
The Samsung Z was supposed to be going on sale round about now, but the company recently decided to indefinitely delay the launch of the device in its first market, Russia. This has led to considerable speculation about the viability of the platform, given its ongoing woes.
Now, TizenExperts reveals that Samsung is reportedly planning to kill the Z"s launch completely. The Samsung Z features higher-end specs, including a quad-core 2.3GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage and 4G LTE support, although its 4.8-inch display is only HD (1280x720px) resolution and the camera is just 8MP.
Samsung is said to be repositioning Tizen, moving away from more premium devices to focus on lower-cost handsets. One major reason for this is believed to be the threat posed by Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi, particularly with regards to the most affordable entry-level smartphones. Tizen is optimised for low-memory (sub-256MB of RAM) devices as well, so this would seem to make sense.
But if Samsung is pivoting its Tizen OS to concentrate on the cheapest phones, it will still face the same problems with regards to attracting developers and building a viable software ecosystem. The company actually acknowledged that its difficulties in expanding Tizen as a platform for developers were a major factor in its decision to scrap the launch of the Samsung Z last month.
Source: TizenExperts via PocketNow | image via Samsung