Samsung Electronics said Wednesday that it will roll out its new premium smart televisions beginning this weekend.

Dubbed the ES 8000 series, the new smart TVs are installed with smart evolution kits on their backs, enabling the upgrade of key features like the TV processor by replacing it with a new one beginning next year, said Kim Hyun-suk, executive vice president at visual display business at Samsung Electronics.

“The new smart TVs are being introduced for the first time in Korea and the main products in the new ES 8000 series will be launched worldwide by the end of March,” he said.

The TV is also equipped with several recognition features ― facial, voice and motion recognition ― aiming to offer more convenience to the users, according to Kim.

“The firm’s flat-screen TV sales target for this year 50 million units and half of that is estimated to be smart TVs,” he said.

When asked about its entry into the Japanese market, it is still reviewing the specifics as it is still a difficult market and also the only one which Samsung was unable to start its operations, said Kim.

“Although it is not confirmed as of now, we’re considering making the entry with the completion of our studies,” he said.

He also said it was Samsung’s goal to release the new Google TV by the end of this year after finishing talks with its U.S. partner Google.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)