Samsung is yet to officially announce its first commercially available Tizen-based smartphone, but it is working behind the curtains to expand the ecosystem, which includes both, hardware and software. According to Tizen Indonesia, Samsung executives have met the chief executive of MediaTek, a fabless Taiwanese semiconductor chips manufacturing brand, to discuss about co-operation in expanding Tizen's reach. Samsung will use MediaTek chipsets in Tizen-based devices. MediaTek has a wide reach and brand recognition in the Asian market, as the chips from the brand are not only used in smartphones and tablets, but also in devices like televisions and DVD/Blu-ray players. Samsung has showcased its first Tizen-based smart television, the SUHD TV, during the CES 2015.
Samsung generally uses chipsets made by MStar in mid-range TVs and Blu-ray players, but in its flagship devices, the Korean electronics giant uses homegrown chipsets. MStar chipsets were used in more than 60 percent of electronic products from Samsung. However, MStar was acquired by MediaTek last year. MediaTek is currently the second largest smartphone SoC vendor after Qualcomm, and is known for providing inexpensive solutions (read SoCs) to make smartphones and tablets. According to industry insiders, Samsung thinks that collaborating with MediaTek will further help them in reducing Tizen-based smartphone prices.
Currently, Samsung has showcased Tizen on smartphones and televisions, and has plans to use it in additional product lines in the future. Samsung's first Tizen-based smartphone, the Z1, uses a processor from Spreadtrum. Recently, the relationship between two companies has grown rosy, which means that MediaTek could become the primary SoC provider for a wide variety of Tizen-based products from Samsung.
Via | Source (Translated)
