Gold Edition Samsung Z1 coming to celebrate 1 million units sold

The Tizen OS powered Samsung Z1 smartphone seems to be out performing expectations, as it passes another sales milestone this month. According to Samsung, the smartphone has sold more than 1 million units in various markets since its launch less than six months ago. Not at all bad for a first-generation device.

Earlier in June the Z1 smartphone had sold around 500,000 units in India alone, and had moved 100,000 units in total back in February. The low-cost handset appears to have gained traction in price sensitive markets, leaving Samsung vindicated when it cancelled the launch in Russia to target the handset at India and Bangladesh. The smartphone arrived in India with a very aggressive price tag of just Rs 5,700 ($95), which seems to have won out over the handset’s low-end specifications.

In celebration of reaching the one million sales mark, Samsung is preparing to launch a gold color model of the Z1 in the near future. A specific release date has not been given. Although the hardware will remain otherwise unchanged, Samsung is also said to be throwing in some additional free games and messaging apps by default, which may or may not suit customers.

Samsung has also confirmed that newer Tizen models are in the works, suggesting that a successor to the Z1 could be on the way. In a bid to continue its momentum in emerging markets, Samsung is hosting a Developer Conference in Shenzhen, China in September and a Tizen Developer Summit India 2015 in Bangalore, India next month. It’s possible that a new smartphone model could be unveiled at the Indian conference.

It looks like the Tizen powered Samsung Z1 is off to a pretty good start for a new platform, although it is mainly the highly competitive price point that has opened the door to India’s market. We will be eagerly watching to see what Samsung has planned for its next Tizen release.