South Korea's tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. plans to sell 30 million units of Tizen-powered quantum-dot TVs in 2015, an industry source said Monday, as it fights to keep its top spot in global TV sales that it has maintained since 2006.

The outlook came as the source with knowledge of inside matters said the company has planned to have Tizen models take up 50 percent of its combined TV sales for 2015, which are estimated at 60 million units.

Tizen is an open-source operating system for smart devices being promoted by Samsung, Intel, Huawei and other global tech players. Samsung has been playing a leading role in its development, applying it in some of its wearables, such as Gear smartwatches, last year.

Samsung showcased its first Tizen-powered TV lineup at the Consumer Electronics Show held in the United States earlier this month. Dubbed the "SUHD TV," it introduced 65-, 78- and 88-inch versions of the new lineup that has also adopted quantum dot technology.

Quantum dot refers to a semiconductor nanostructure that improves brightness, visibility and power efficiency of displays.

Tech players say TVs using the technology can display over 1 billion colors, 64 times more than other models currently being sold on the market.

Samsung is set to commence the sales of the Tizen TVs starting in February at home and gradually expand to other markets.

Global shipments of smart TVs, meanwhile, are set to reach 124 million units in 2015, up 22.7 percent from a year earlier, data compiled by market researcher BI Intelligence showed.

The world's No. 1 maker of smartphones also launched its first Tizen-powered smartphone in India as it aggressively targets the low-end market and attempts a breakaway from the dominant Android operating system.

The 4-inch Samsung Z1 is powered by the Tizen 2.3 platform and comes with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor. Weighing only 112 grams, it is equipped with a 3.1-megapixel rear camera and a 1,500 mAh battery. (Yonhap)