The wearable device market will grow manifold times in the future, thanks to the increasing demand for smartwatches and smart bands. As we reported earlier, the overall shipments of smartwatches is estimated to reach 28.3 million units, of which Samsung’s Tizen OS will power 3.2 million devices by the end of 2016. Also, the smartwatch shipments will touch 82.5 million by 2020. According to rumours, Huawei is working on a smartwatch powered by Tizen OS, instead of Android Wear. This collaboration will be the first for the Linux-based operating system. So far, Tizen was limited only to a range of Samsung products including its Gear wearable, few smartphones, and other smart appliances.
Why is Huawei Considering Other OS?
As per the sources, Huawei has been looking for the operating system other than Google’s Android as Google has not been very collaborative with the company. Samsung moved to Tizen OS for the Gear S2 because OEMs had already complained about the lack of hardware and software flexibility in Android Wear. Moreover, even Google is supposedly building its own smartwatch under the brand name of Nexus, with Google Assistant integration. This can be another reason for Google to stop collaborating with other OEMs. Google’s launch of its own smartwatch will only shrink its collaboration with OEMs for Android Wear OS.
According to Samsung spokesperson Lee Won-ho,
Samsung has not officially received any request for such collaboration from Huawei yet.
However, since the Tizen platform is open-source, Huawei wouldn’t necessarily require any formal collaboration with Samsung for the same.
How Good is the Tizen OS?
Tizen OS has its own edge over Android Wear OS for which Huawei is moving towards it. Since Tizen is open-source, OEMs are free to alter or improve the UI to make it look unique. It is HTML-based which works great on the web. Also, this brings down the app-making cost as well. It won’t require plug-ins to watch YouTube clips or to listen to a song.
Tizen can be as user-friendly as iOS or Android, with features like swipe down notification bar along with the toggle bar, multitasking, integrated power saving and a firewall to block sites. Tizen is also compatible with TVs, laptops, and might even feature in banking and automobile industry. It will also support all the native and web apps.
Google Android does not offer the option to meddle with the interface. OEMs have to abide by the features and UI experience that Android provides. Google is reportedly developing its own smartwatch to demonstrate the best of Android Wear’s capabilities. And, beating Google’s efficiency in developing Android-based smartwatches is tough. So, companies are now making a move towards other OS.
So, Is It Google vs. Samsung?
This is the reason why there has been no development from Huawei in the smartwatch segment since the launch of its first smartwatch. With the OEMs shifting towards Tizen OS, we will get to see Google and Samsung competing in the OS market in future. The decision made by Huawei to choose Tizen over Android might prove to be a right one for the company. We say so keeping in mind our experience with Tizen-powered Samsung Gear S2 and Gear S3 smartwatches which was good.
It won’t be a surprise if all OEMs start rolling out smartphones powered by Tizen sometime soon. Only a confirmation from Samsung and Huawei can tell us when and how the shift in OS market will happen.