Samsung is planning to launch a budget phone in India

Sep 19, 2014 12:00 GMT  ·  By

The Tizen smartphone mirage has been floating around for some time now, with the Samsung Z handset actually going official back in June.

However, the device failed to make a real-life appearance, and like the ASUS Transformer Book Duet (2-in-1 convertible with dual OS), it might never actually see the light of day.

The product was supposedly set for immediate release on the Russian market, but for a number of reasons, the Korean tech giant saw it fit to delay the launch, before reportedly canceling the plans altogether.

A Tizen handset might still become reality

Some of you might have lost hope of ever seeing a Tizen handset, as Samsung’s own OS seems to be destined to go only on the company’s smartwatches where it has made a cozy home for itself.

But speaking to the Economic Times, Samsung’s Asian Media Solution Team, Tarun Malik said the Korean company hadn’t abandoned its plans of launching a Tizen smartphone. On the contrary, he claimed a Tizen handset would go on sale as soon as November in India.

It appears that since the Samsung Z went official and everything went downwards, Sammy had a chance to put things into perspective and reconsider its approach.

The Z was going to be quite an expensive device, but after the fall from grace, the company realized its Tizen phone was better off among the low-cost, budget category.

Tizen will compete against Android One

If Samsung does indeed launch Tizen in this country where smartphones are growing at a tremendous rate, it will surely be placed in competition with Google’s latest host of Android One smartphones.

Three handsets under this banner already made a debut on the market and chances are that customers are going to love them a lot.

First off, they offer a near Android stock experience, and secondly, they will be receiving updates directly from Google. Gone are the days when budget smartphones had to remain stuck in the realm of outdated software.

So Tizen has a lot of work ahead if it plans to make a real difference against the Android One family. For the time being, we’re seeing only three models, but important OEMs in the industry are ready to jump onboard with Google to provide more models.

The company’s representative went on to say that the Tizen handset will be sold alongside Samsung’s usual Android offerings on the Indian market.

He failed to provide us with any hard details like specifications of the device or price tag. Will Samsung manage to bet the $105 / €81 price that Google set for its Android One smartphones?