South Korean electronic giant Samsung is expected to launch a smartphone, based on its new Tizen operating system, in India later this month. According to sources, the smartphone major is expected to launch the device on December 10 in the affordable category (sub-Rs 10,000). The company was not available for comments. Currently, only a few devices, including Samsung's smartwatch products run on the Tizen platform. A majority of Samsung's mobile phones are currently powered by the Android platform, which is also the dominant OS on most smartphones across the globe. Launched as a competitor to Android and iOS OS', Tizen aims to address the needs of stakeholders of mobile and connected device ecosystem, including device manufacturers, mobile operators, application developers and independent software vendors (ISVs). In June, Samsung had showcased 'Samsung Z', which came with a 4.8 inch HD display and 2.3 GHz Quad-core processor. Showcased at the Tizen Developer Conference, San Francisco, the handset featured 8MP rear camera, 2.1MP front camera, 2GB RAM, 16 GB internal memory (expandable up to 64GB) and a 2,600 mAh battery. The company had planned to make the handset available in Russia in third quarter in Russia, but the plan was scrapped. Previously, Samsung ran 'Bada' OS, which did not see much success. It has since been working on merging the platform with Tizen, which is backed by chipmaker Intel Corp. The other popular operating systems include Apple iOS, Microsoft's Windows Phone OS and BlackBerry's proprietary platform.
