Samsung is preparing the release of another major smartphone running on its own Tizen operating system. Called the Z3, the device will be a sequel of sorts to the first Tizen smartphone, the Z1, which came out near the start of this year.
“Z3” is a bit of a misnomer; there never was a Z2, despite circulating rumours this past spring. Perhaps Samsung’s executives just thought “Z3” sounded cooler. In any case, it’s going to be the second Samsung smartphone to be based on the Tizen OS, though other products such as the Gear S2 smartwatch have also used Tizen. Samsung plans to launch the device on October 21st in India, where its low price (at about $130 USD) could attract a lot of interest. And the company appears to be readying further Tizen-based smartphones for release later this year.
At the moment, most of Samsung’s top smartphones, such as the Galaxy S6 and related devices, run on Google’s Android OS. It isn’t clear what exactly has prompted the company to begin moving away from Android, but it may be part of a larger chill in relations between the erstwhile strategic partners as the companies have entered into direct competition with rival mPayment platforms. In any case, if Samsung succeeds it should end up with more control over how its devices function.
Source: Reuters
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