Will the ill-fated Tizen make a comeback in low-end phones?

At the beginning of last year, Samsung launched the Tizen system jointly developed with Intel in a high-profile manner, trying to challenge iOS and Android and reduce its dependence on Android. At that time, Samsung positioned Tizen in the high-end market. However, after nearly two years of twists and turns, Samsung decided to start with low-end phones, intending to use smartphones equipped with its own Tizen system to compete with Google's Android one and low-end phones from various countries.

From the "big lineup" at the beginning of the release (Intel, Huawei, Japan's DoCoMo, France's Orange, and the United States' Sprint are all companies on the board of directors of the Tizen Association), to some companies withdrawing from the Tizen project one after another; from high-end positioning to avoiding competition with Apple and Android phones, Samsung pushed the Tizen system to wearables, home appliances, digital cameras and other product lines... CNET used the word "rocky road" to describe the Tizen system.

Samsung has worked hard to build a new system. Although the first Tizen phone was finally released in June this year after several delays, and the launch date is still unknown, this does not prevent Samsung from continuing to work hard on Tizen. Recently, there is news that Samsung is going to release a new low-end smartphone equipped with Tizen OS system.

$100 Samsung phone

At the moment our focus is on mid- and low-end models.

Taesoon Jun, chief architect of Samsung Tizen, said at the Samsung Developer Conference last week. In September this year, Google officially released the low-end Android One mobile phone, which was first released in India and sold for $105. Now, Samsung is obviously using a similar strategy to compete with local mobile phone manufacturers in India and China. They will also release a mobile phone priced at $100, also first released in India. This phone is likely to be the recently exposed phone equipped with Tizen 2.3 system, model SM-Z130H, codenamed Kiran.

Although they have the same positioning, Samsung's Tizen is not necessarily as competitive as Google's Android One. Users who buy Android One phones can directly experience the latest Android L, and the number of Android apps available for download is far ahead of Tizen.

If it is a Tizen phone, users may face:

Common (international) apps like Facebook and What's App are not available.

Operators who have lost confidence in the Tizen system have withdrawn (most operators in the Tizen Association are skeptical of Tizen.)

Tizen application developers are not very motivated (although Samsung has offered high prices to "bounty" Tizen software developers many times, the number of Tizen applications is not impressive.)

Never gave up on Tizen system

Although Tizen still has a long way to go to compete with Android, Samsung has definitely put a lot of thought into the Tizen system. According to CNTE, the upcoming Tizen Store will even be completely for developers. The revenue earned by developers from applications in the Tizen Store will belong to the developers 100%, while Apple and Google currently charge developers 30%.

In addition to mobile phones, Samsung is also exploring the application of the Tizen system to other products. iFanr's "Tizen is slowly reborn, hoping to become the second Android" once detailed Samsung's layout for Tizen. The Tizen Association has discussed internally the need to shift its focus from smartphones. At the time, Roy, chairman of the Tizen Association, also believed that Tizen did not need to invest in the fiercely competitive smartphone market.

In fact, this is what Samsung does. Samsung's NX300M digital camera, Gear 2 and Gear S smart watches all use the Tizen operating system, and Tizen also has room for development in home appliances, car systems and other fields.

This strategy has not changed until now. Eric Anderson, Samsung's vice president of content and product solutions, also mentioned at a press conference a few weeks ago that Samsung will use the Tizen operating system in all its product portfolios, including TVs and other products, by 2015. But now it seems that the Tizen Association has not given up on smartphones. In addition to other products, smartphones equipped with the Tizen system are still being produced.

A few days ago, the article "Samsung no longer wants to use the strategy of flooding the market with smartphones" mentioned that Samsung will cut about 25% to 30% of its product lines to cut costs and compete with manufacturers who are good at controlling mobile phone prices in the low-end and mid-range smartphone fields. Does this mean that Samsung will promote low-end smartphones equipped with the Tizen system?

So, is this an attempt to seize the low-end machine market with its own Tizen system, or is it to use low-end smartphones to save the Tizen system?