Samsung has finally decided to launch its first Tizen-based smartphone.
At a special event in New Delhi, 14 January, the company is expected to launch its widely-rumoured Z1 smartphone. As per the rumours and unofficial talks about the Tizen-based smartphone, Z1 will mainly target low-budget consumers and compete with budget Android One smartphones and products of rising Chinese companies.
Samsung co-developed Tizen with Intel as a way to reduce its dependence on Google's Android OS.
According to a Korean report last month, Samsung's Z1 smartphone is expected to have a price tag of under Rs 6,000 in India. If the rumours are to be believed, the smartphone's specs will match the affordable price tag. Z1 reportedly has a 4-inch 480 x 800-pixel display, a 1.2GHz dual-core Spreadtrum processor, 512MB RAM, 1,500mAh battery and support for 3G connectivity.
Samsung might have also packed a 3.2MP rear camera with LED flash and a VGA front camera, which is quite impressive for the given price range. Users can also use Wi-Fi and GPS as well as run two SIM cards at the same time. Most importantly, the Z1 smartphone will replace Android with Tizen v2.3.
These specs are in response to the growing demand for budget smartphones in India. Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi became very popular for its low-priced, feature-packed smartphones. Google also entered the smartphone race in India with its range of Android One smartphones, manufactured by Indian smartphone companies like Micromax, Lava and others.
Samsung's success with Tizen smartphones is not guaranteed in the market, which is heavily dominated by Android. In fact, other companies offer better specs at a reasonable price, which will be yet another challenge for Samsung to overcome.
Samsung will begin its launch event at 11.45 a.m. Co-incidentally, the leaked images of Samsung Galaxy J1 suggest that it will be launched at the same time too, meaning more than one smartphone launches will take place at the event.
In separate news, the Korean tech giant has also been considering a Windows smartphone.
