Confirmed: Samsung To Launch Several Linux-Powered Smartphones In 2013 - Forbes

GLENDALE, CA - AUGUST 29: Samsung Galaxy SIII Android mobile phone is displayed at a store on August 29, 2012 in Glendale, California. Value of Samsung Galaxy Android mobile phones are declining rapidly after the $1.05 billion verdict which found Samsung infringed on six Apple patents. Customers of Samsung have been dumping their Android products at major resale sites. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Can you picture a Galaxy S III or one of Samsung's flagship smartphones running a custom version of Linux instead of Android? It may become a reality this year, the Korean company has confirmed via an email statement.

Tizen has been flitting about in the peripheral for years, but the mobile OS — a Linux alternative to Google's Android and Apple's iOS — is poised for some serious exposure in the coming months.

The pieces have been slowly assembling. In 2012 Samsung invested $500,000 to become a Platinum-level member of the Linux Foundation, joining the ranks of IBM and Intel. At the time no specific reason was given, but we know Linux is responsible for quietly running many of Samsung's other products like Smart TVs so the move didn't come out of the blue. Now the intent is clearer: Samsung wants to lead the charge away from its reliance on Android, and if it succeeds it could threaten to put a serious dent in Apple's share of the mobile market.

"The Tizen was born as Samsung hoped to lighten its growing dependence on Google on concerns that its top position in the smartphone market may weaken following the Google- Motorola tie-up," Byun Han Joon, an analyst at KB Investment & Securities in Seoul, told Bloomberg earlier today. "Intel always wanted to boost its presence in the mobile CPU market."

That's right, Intel is one of the founding members of the Tizen Association alongside NTT DoCoMo Inc. and Vodafone Group Plc. I'm no marketing expert, but with Samsung's 35% share of the mobile phone market and the weight of Intel in its court, Tizen might become the first flavor of Linux to go truly mainstream.

Samsung has not disclosed any further details such as pricing, models, or release dates. There's a distant chance we may learn more at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week. I suspect we'll see a soft launch in overseas markets before Samsung brings a Tizen-powered phone to the United States. It will have an uphill battle if it wants to truly escape Android's shadow, but there's nothing like some healthy competition.