the Galaxy Watch 4 lineup was launched with Google's Wear OS.
Despite Android's dominance in the global smartphone industry, Google is yet to get a firm grip on the wearables and smart TV sectors. While the wearables sector is dominated by Apple's watchOS and a plethora of smaller, proprietary platforms from various OEMs, the smart TV sector is equally fragmented with the presence of not only Apple and Android but also Roku, Amazon's Fire TV, LG's webOS and more. In addition, while many leading Android OEMs like Samsung use their own platforms instead of Android TV, some, like Sony, use Google's smart TV platform, offering s access to the tens of thousands of apps and services available on the Play Store.
In a press release on Monday, non-Samsung TVs and smart boxes for the first time. As part of the plan, the company partnered with Akai, RCA, Bauhn, Linsar, Sunny, Vispera and other brands sold in Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Türkiye and the UK. According to Samsung, the new initiative will allow these third-party TVs access to Tizen OS features like Samsung TV Plus, Universal Guide, Bixby voice assistant and more.
Samsung's Tizen OS On Third-Party Smart TVs
While Samsung TV Plus is a free streaming TV and video platform that will enable s to access "hundreds of live channels, entertainment, news, shows and sports," Universal Guide will allow s to browse and discover content across different streaming apps. It will also offer personalized recommendations to help s find more shows in line with their tastes. Finally, Bixby will allow viewers to use voice commands to search, watch and perform various other functions.
Samsung's announcement comes more than a year and a half after LG announced plans to license its own webOS platform to third-party smart TV vendors. That plan came to fruition last week when the company started rolling out its webOS Hub, an upgraded version of webOS for third-party vendors. The system already has more than 200 listed partners, including Seiki, Eko, Stream System, Konka, Aiwa and Hyundai, among others.
Source: Samsung