Samsung may launch first Tizen phone in India

Seoul - Samsung Electronics, which faces a slowdown in emerging market smartphone sales, will release its long-delayed Tizen-powered handset in India before the end of this year, a report said on Monday.

Samsung's first Tizen-based device will be launched in November in India, said Tarun Malik, director of Samsung's Media Solutions Centre in Southwest Asia, in an interview with Economic Times. Samsung's headquarters in Seoul said it had no comment.

The Tizen mobile platform is Samsung's effort to build its own mobile ecosystem akin to Google's Android and Apple's iOS. Samsung is the world's biggest smartphone supplier claiming nearly one third of the global sales, most of its smartphones are powered by Google's Android system.

That reliance means Samsung phone users tied to Google's services can easily switch to other Android devices from Samsung's Galaxy line-up.

Samsung faces rising threats from local brands in China and India, which have hurt its sales of cheap handsets. The maker of Galaxy smartphones and tablets was beaten by Xiaomi in smartphone sales in China during the second quarter according to Canalys, a market research firm.

Tizen ecosystem

In India, Samsung was overtaken by Micromax in mobile handset sales during the second quarter, according to Counterpoint Technology Market Research, a Hong Kong-based market research firm.

Samsung earlier this year shelved plans to start selling its Tizen-based Samsung Z phone in Russia during the third quarter. It said it needed to enhance the Tizen "ecosystem" which apparently lacked sufficient developers and apps.

It was not clear if the upcoming Tizen smartphone in India would be the Samsung Z. Announced in June at a developers' conference in San Francisco, the Samsung Z featured a 12cm (4.8-inch) high-definition display, a fingerprint sensor for security and a slim, angular design.

Though smartphones based on Tizen are yet to be seen in the market, Samsung has introduced Tizen in a camera and smart watches. The company seeks to expand the platform to other consumer durable goods, including TVs and refrigerators.