Samsung's First Tizen Smartphones Launching in India, Russia: Report

Now a new report, in-line with the Samsung executive's statements, hints that the first wave of Tizen-based smartphones might be heading to India and Russia. The Wall Street Journal. in a report citing people familiar with the plan, claims that Samsung is planning an event in Moscow in the weeks ahead, where the company is expected to launch its first smartphone powered by Tizen OS.

The report suggests that the rumoured Moscow event will see the unveiling of the Tizen smartphone in the same format as Samsung's Android-powered Galaxy flagship events.

Also claimed by the report is the imminent launch of the Tizen-based smartphone in India. However, does the report does not detail the company's launch plans or dates for release.

In addition, the report suggests that Samsung is also considering expanding the Tizen OS to televisions; although it has not given any roll-out time for the Tizen-based TV as of now.

Earlier, Samsung's Senior Vice President of Samsung's Product Strategy team, Yoon Han-kil, had suggested that the company wanted to build its own ecosystem around Tizen to trim down its heavy dependence on Google's Android OS, which has been exclusively powering Samsung's smartphones and tablets after the halt of development of bada OS.

Notably, Samsung ditched Android for its wearable devices and launched Tizen-based Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo smartwatches at the MWC.

The Tizen consortium includes giants such as Intel, Fujitsu, Samsung, LG, Huawei, and European mobile carriers Vodafone and Orange. While we're still waiting for the first Tizen-powered mobile phones, Samsung announced the first Tizen-based device, the NFC and Wi-Fi-enabled mirrorless NX300M camera, in November last year.

In April Samsung in an attempt to lure developers introduced a $1.25 million prize for Gear App Challenge for developers to create apps specifically for its Tizen-based smart wearables.