India is likely to become the launch pad for Samsung’s proprietary Tizen operating system. The world’s largest tech manufacturer is believed to launch a smartphone operating on the Tizen platform inIndiain less than a month’s time, claim sources familiar with the plans of the firm.
The Indian market has never been considered a launch pad for the South Korean tech giant, but now it plans to bring the aforementioned product first toIndiaas its leadership position in this market is threatened by the homegrown brands.
As per the sources, the Tizen based smartphone is likely to arrive with a 4 inch display of unknown resolution and support dual SIM functionality. The device is said to come with a 3.2 MP primary camera and carry a moderate price tag ranging between Rs 5,000 and Rs 15,000.
However, a Samsung spokesperson has commented that this information is just a market speculation and did not comment further regarding this.
Samsung is under pressure in the Indian smartphone market due to the increasing competition by the domestic brands. This is resulted in a shrink in the vendor’s market share and the firm posted the low quarterly earnings in Q3 2014 that is the smallest for the past couple of years.
According to the sector watchers, Samsung is struggling to retain its dominance in the market against rival firms including Apple and Xiaomi that have created a niche spaqce for their premium and affordable devices respectively. Also, the competition from domestic manufacturers such as Micromax is increasing with this firm being the closest rival to the South Korean tech giant.
Following these, Samsung appears to be looking to reduce its dependence on the Android platform as it would differentiate it from the rest in the market. The launch of Android One smartphones in the sub Rs 7,000 price bracket in partnership with theIndiabased vendors has further threatened the entry-level smatphone market.
Earlier this year, Samsung announced the launch of its first Tizen based smartphone called Samsung Z boasting of a 4.8 inch Super AMOLED display with a HD screen resolution. Powered by a 2.3 GH quad-core processor, the smartphone was slated to be released inRussiaand other markets in the third quarter, though it did not happen.
Industry experts suggest that it could be tough for Samsung to move away from Android as it would take some time to lure consumers towards it. However, the Indian market has witnessed many new operating system entrants such as Jolla’s Sailfish OS, Mozilla’s Firefox OS and others. Those smartphones based on these new platforms are priced in the sub Rs 4,000 price bracket, but there seems to be little interest in this segment from the consumers. The market seems to be flooded with consumers who like to invest their money on Android as it is backed by Google.
