Andre Yoskowitz
15 Mar 2013 18:52
Samsung Electronics has confirmed its plans to release a high-end Tizen smartphone this year, either in late August or early September.
Tizen is the open-source Linux-based operating system backed by Intel, and Samsung's effort to not have all their eggs in the Android basket.
"The Tizen phone will be out in August or September, and this will be in the high-end category," said Lee Young Hee, executive vice president of Samsung's mobile business. "The device will be the best product equipped with the best specifications."
This is good news for potential buyers, as there had been worries that Samsung may try to attack the budget-conscious market instead, and offer low-end phones.
The new phone will be the third of the company's premium devices for 2013, following yesterday's Galaxy S4 launch and the upcoming Galaxy Note 3.
Samsung says the Tizen launch phone will have an app store with thousands of apps to choose from. The Tizen 2.0 SDK was released earlier this year, but is nowhere near in final form.