History
The project was initiated as mobile Linux and was launched by Intel in July 2007. In April 2009 the operating system updated to version 2.0 which was based on Fedora. However, in the same month, Intel turned Moblin over to the Linux Foundation for future development. Eventually, the operating system was merged with Nokia Maemo, a Debian-based Linux distro, into MeeGo which was mainly developed by Nokia, Intel and Linux Foundation.
In 2011, after Nokia abandoned the project, Linux Foundation initiated the Tizen project as a successor to MeeGo, another Linux-based mobile operating system. Its main backer, Intel, joined Samsung Electronics, Access Co., NEC Casio, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic Mobile, SK Telecom, Telefónica, and Vodafone as commercial partners. Tizen would be designed to use HTML5 apps and target mobile and embedded platforms such as netbooks, smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, and in-car entertainment systems.[4] U.S. carrier Sprint Corporation (which was a backer of MeeGo) joined the Tizen Association in May 2012.[5] On September 16, 2012, Automotive Grade Linux announced its intent to use Tizen as the basis of its reference distribution.[6]
In January 2013, Samsung announced its intent to release multiple Tizen-based phones that year. In February 2013, Samsung merged its Bada operating system into Tizen.[7][8]
In October 2013, the first Tizen tablet was shipped by Systena. The tablet was part of a development kit exclusive to Japan.[9][10][11]
In 2014, Samsung released the Gear 2 smartwatch, which used a Tizen-based operating system rather than Android.[12]
On May 14, 2014, it was announced that Tizen would ship with Qt.[13] This project was abandoned in January 2017.[14]
On February 21, 2016, Samsung announced Samsung Connect Auto, a connected car solution offering diagnostic, Wi-Fi, and other car-connected services. The device plugs directly into the OBD-II port underneath the steering wheel.[15]
On November 16, 2016, Samsung said they would be collaborating with Microsoft to bring .NET Core support to Tizen.[16]
According to Strategy Analytics research, approximately 21% of the smart TVs sold in 2018 run on the Tizen platform, which made it the most popular smart TV platform.[17]
On May 19, 2021, during Google I/O, Google announced that Samsung had agreed to work on integrating features of Tizen with the next version of Wear OS, and that it had committed to using Wear OS for its future wearable products.[18][19][20] Samsung would continue to use Tizen for its smart TVs.[21]
On December 31, 2021, the Tizen app store permanently closed.[22] The last smartphone based on the Tizen operating system is the Samsung Z4, which was released in 2017. The company switched to Google's Wear OS 3 platform on its Galaxy Watch 4 smartwatches.[23][24]
As of August 2025, Samsung Smart TVs run on Tizen, with OTA [Over The Air] updates rolled out as and when Samsung releases them.
