Samsung Electronics on Monday announced that it will be opening up Tizen, an open source OS for Samsung Smart TV, to third-party TV manufacturers for multiple markets outside South Korea.
In other words, non-Samsung smart TVs will now be able to use the Tizen OS TV platform in their smart TVs for the first time.
For this purpose, the South Korean giant has announced licensing partnerships with leading international ODM (Original Development Manufacturing) companies such as Atmaca, HKC, and Tempo.
New TVs powered by Tizen OS from brands like Bauhn, Linsar, Sunny, Vispera, and others will be made available in Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Tรผrkiye, and the United Kingdom later this year.
The partnership with Samsung will allow these third-party TVs access to key features that are exclusive to Samsung Smart TVs such as:
Samsung TV Plus (a free streaming TV and video platform ), Universal Guide that allows easy browsing and discovery of all content across different streaming apps, along with personalized recommendations, and Bixby,ย Samsungโs virtual voice assistant.
โ2022 has been a memorable year for Tizen OS as we celebrate its 10thย anniversary and the very first Tizen-powered smart TVs available from other brands,โ said Yongjae Kim, Executive Vice President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics in a press release.
Samsung has plans to expand Tizen OS licensing program and introduce its ecosystem to more products and brands around the world in the future.
More About Tizen OS
For the unversed, Tizen is aย Linux-basedย OSย backed by theย Linux Foundation mainly developed and used primarily byย Samsung Electronics for multiple device categories, including smartphones, tablets, netbooks, in-vehicle infotainment devices, smart TVs, and more. The tech giant released the first version of the Tizen OS in 2012.
Over the past decade, Tizen OS has made rapid growth with around 200 million people from 197 countries using Samsung Smart TVs powered by Tizen. The number is further expected to grow with the latest addition of Tizen-powered smart TVs.
Currently, Tizenย OS is the leading TV streaming platform around the world among smart TVs in use.
Meanwhile, last week, Samsungโs rival LG expanded its smart TV platform businessย by rolling out its webOS Hub, an upgraded version of its webOS solution, to over 200 other third-party smart TV manufacturersย including Seiki, Eko, Stream System, Konka, Aiwa and Hyundai.
Besides Samsungโs Tizen OS and LGโs webOS, there are also other competitors in the smart TV platform, which include Googleโs Android TV, Amazonโs Fire TV, and Roku OS.