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The 5 Best Samsung TVs of 2024 Reviews and Smart Features

Updated
Best Samsung TVs

We've bought and tested over 115 Samsung TVs. Generally speaking, Samsung TVs are versatile and can provide good-to-excellent picture quality. Samsung is known for its LED models, which generally have great gaming features. Samsung introduced their new Neo QLED TV lineup in 2021, which is an improvement on their more traditional QLED lineup as it introduces Mini LED backlighting. When combined with the quantum dot layer, their high-end TVs provide great picture quality. Along with Sony, they also released the first QD-OLED TV in 2022 to compete with LG's OLED lineup.

You can vote on which Samsung TVs you want us to buy and test, or check out our 2024 TV lineup page.

Updates

Best Samsung Smart TVs


  1. Best Samsung TV

    The Samsung S90C OLED is amongst the best Samsung TVs we've tested. It combines the deep inky blacks of LG Display's OLED technology with Samsung's Quantum Dot technology, resulting in a wider color gamut and brighter colors than traditional OLED TVs made with LG Display panels. It looks fantastic in a dark room thanks to its nearly infinite contrast ratio and perfect black uniformity, with no distracting blooming around bright areas of the screen. Like most high-end Samsung TVs, it has a wide array of extra features, like VRR and 4k @ 144Hz support from the new-gen consoles or a recent PC graphics card. It's available in four sizes: 55, 65, 77, and 83 inches, although the 83-inch model uses a WOLED panel, so it looks different from the smaller sizes.

    The built-in Tizen OS interface is easy to use and has a great selection of streaming apps and games. The S90C sits just below the higher-tier Samsung S95C OLED. The more expensive model is a bit brighter and sports a refreshed design that looks incredible when wall-mounted, thanks to its uniform design and incredibly thin bezels. The main difference between the two is that S95C comes with an external Slim One Connect Box to help keep your cables clutter-free. The price of the S95C is significantly higher than the S90C's, though, so unless you need the box for your setup, it's not worth buying over the S90C.

    See our review

  2. Best Upper Mid-Range Samsung TV

    The Samsung QN90C/QN90CD QLED is one of the best Samsung smart TVs in the upper mid-range category we've tested. Alongside the Samsung QN95C QLED, it's Samsung's flagship 4k LED TV for 2023, featuring an impressive Mini LED backlight to increase the appearance of small highlights and reduce blooming in dark scenes. It's an excellent TV with a great selection of features, so there's something for everyone. It's not quite as good as Samsung's OLEDs in a dark room, though, as there's still some blooming around bright objects, and blacks aren't perfectly deep and inky.

    On the other hand, it's a better choice for watching shows in bright rooms because it has fantastic reflection handling and easily gets bright enough to fight glare, so visibility isn't an issue even in the brightest rooms. It doesn't come with the Samsung QN90B QLED's 'Ultra Viewing Angle' technology, so its viewing angle is slightly narrower, but it also doesn't have the older model's distracting rainbow smearing. You could instead go for the somewhat better but more expensive QN95C. It has a slightly better local dimming feature, gets a bit brighter, and has 144Hz support on all of its HDMI ports, but overall, it's not worth the added cost over the QN90C.

    See our review

  3. Best Mid-Range Samsung TV

    The best mid-range TV monitor we've tested is the Samsung QN85C/QN85CD QLED. It has a wide viewing angle, which ensures that the sides of the screen remain consistent if you sit close. Its viewing angle is wider than that of the more expensive Samsung QN90C/QN90CD QLED, which is great. However, the higher-end model is available in more sizes and does offer superior image quality overall. Still, there are no issues with using the QN85C in a bright room since it easily gets bright enough to fight glare and has decent reflection handling. The TV doesn't have deep, inky blacks compared to the Samsung S90C OLED, but its contrast is still great for a cheaper mid-range TV.

    It's a fantastic TV for gaming as it supports HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on all four HDMI inputs, allowing 4k @ 120Hz signals from a PC or console. It is compatible with every VRR technology to minimize screen tearing and has extremely low input lag with a good response time for a responsive gaming experience. It has no issues outputting full chroma 4:4:4 with the lowest input lag possible, essential for clear text from a PC. It even has an RGB layout, optimal for text clarity when used as a PC monitor. This might be the sweet spot for Samsung TVs regarding price and performance.

    See our review

  4. Best Lower Mid-Range Samsung TV

    If you want better picture quality without breaking the bank, the Samsung Q80C QLED is the best lower mid-range Samsung TV we've tested. Stepping up from the Samsung Q60C, it's a good TV overall, with great peak brightness in SDR and decent reflection handling, so it performs well in a bright living area. Unlike most lower mid-range TVs, it also has a wide viewing angle, making it a great choice for a wide seating arrangement, as the image remains consistent even when viewed from the side.

    Unfortunately, this wider viewing angle comes at the expense of contrast, so it doesn't look as good as the Samsung QN85C/QN85CD QLED in a dark room. Its black uniformity is also quite poor, so there's a lot of blooming around bright highlights in dark scenes. Fortunately, like most Samsung TVs, it has great gaming features, and all four HDMI ports support HDMI 2.1 bandwidth for console and PC gamers. It runs the 2023 Tizen OS interface, with a huge selection of streaming apps and an easy-to-use interface.

    See our review

  5. Best Budget Samsung TV

    The Samsung Q60C is the best budget Samsung TV we've tested. Although Samsung doesn't release many budget models anymore, especially in North America, this TV offers decent overall performance at a lower cost than their more expensive models. It's available in a wide range of sizes and is one of the few TVs you can buy in a very small size without sacrificing performance. It delivers decent picture quality, with an adequate contrast ratio, fantastic black uniformity for deep blacks in a dark room, and very good peak brightness in SDR. It handles glare well thanks to its decent reflection handling, making it a good choice for an office or bedroom with lots of light, especially when watching SDR content.

    It has a built-in smart interface with a great selection of streaming apps, so you don't have to worry about buying a separate streaming stick to watch your favorite shows. It lacks advanced gaming features like variable refresh rate technology to reduce tearing. Although it supports HDR, it lacks a local dimming feature and can't get bright enough for HDR content to stand out. It comes with the 2023 version of Tizen OS, and you still get the same great remote and tons of apps available to download.

    See our review

Compared To Other Brands


  • Well-rounded.
    Samsung's high-end models are some of the best TVs we've tested. They don't excel in just one category; they're well-rounded and offer great performance for various uses.
  • Perform well in dark and bright environments.
    Their QLED TVs, especially those with VA panels, have high contrast and get bright, so they're good for dark and bright rooms.
  • Great gaming features.
    Samsung is a leader in gaming features, and even their mid-range models have variable refresh rate (VRR) and ALLM support.
  • Uniformity issues.
    Samsung models typically don't have good gray uniformity and have some dirty screen effect, which could get distracting during sports or PC use.
  • TVs can be costly, and may not offer good value.
    Samsung's high-end TVs can get costly, so while they provide the best performance, they may not have the best value compared to other brands. There are often cheaper TVs that you can get with a few compromises.
  • Few budget models.
    Although Samsung used to offer a wide range of budget models, in recent years, they've pretty much abandoned their budget lineup, and even some mid-tier models are now only available in certain regions.
  • No Dolby Vision or DTS audio support.
    Although Samsung has their own dynamic HDR format in HDR10+, none of their TVs support the more widely used Dolby Vision format. They also don't include support for advanced DTS audio formats, which are prevalent in physical media.

Samsung vs Sony

Samsung TVs usually have more gaming features than Sony TVs, in particular, lower input lag and official 4k @ 144Hz on some models, and Samsung also has a bigger TV lineup. In comparison, Sony TVs are usually built a bit better, with mostly metal construction. They also tend to have better image processing and color accuracy, so they're better for home entertainment setups, especially as Sony typically supports Dolby Vision HDR and advanced DTS audio formats.

Samsung vs LG

Samsung TVs generally have better picture quality than the average LG LED-backlit LCD TV. Samsung TVs usually get a fair bit brighter and have better contrast, while LG TVs generally have much wider viewing angles and better smart features. While LG has more OLEDs in its lineup, Samsung has released its own OLED TVs known as QD-OLED, which produce brighter and more vibrant colors than LG's OLEDs. LG OLEDs tend to have more features than Samsung's; in particular, LG's recent OLEDs support Dolby Vision HDR and DTS advanced audio format support and have better image processing than competing Samsung models.

Samsung vs Hisense

Hisense TVs are better values than Samsung TVs, as their TVs tend to be a fraction of the price for equal, and sometimes even better, performance. However, Hisense doesn't have any TVs to compete with Samsung's OLEDs, and their TVs tend to have bugs and quirks that Samsung's products don't have. Plus, Hisense TVs tend to have a narrow viewing angle, so they're not as well suited for wide seating arrangements.

Samsung vs TCL

TCL TVs are a better value than Samsung TVs, as they offer comparable or better performance for a fraction of the price. Like with Hisense, TCL has no models to compete with Samsung's OLEDs, and their TVs have more bugs and quirks than Samsung's. TCL TVs also have a narrow viewing angle, so they're not optimal for wide seating arrangements.

Samsung TVs provide performance suitable for most buyers, but they can also be costly compared to some competing brands. They generally perform very well and are among the best TVs on the market, especially if you want gaming features. However, competition is increasing, and Samsung LED TVs don't seem to provide as much value as they previously did. They recently entered the OLED market and released their own QD-OLED TVs to compete with high-end LG OLED models.

2024 Samsung Lineup

Samsung announced their new 2024 lineup at CES in early January. We don't have the full details of their entire lineup yet, as Samsung's announcement focused on their new OLED and 8k models, with very few details on the rest of their lineup, but we'll update these sections below as new information comes out. Samsung typically releases their first new TVs in early March, with budget models following later in the year.

OLED

Samsung announced three new OLED models at CES: the Samsung S95D, S90D, and S85D. The flagship S95D features a new matte anti-reflective coating designed to improve reflection handling significantly. It works surprisingly well at reducing glare from bright lights, but the end result is a bit polarizing, as some people have mentioned that the matte coating gives it a flat, duller look compared to glossy models. It's worth pointing out that this extra coating is added by Samsung Electronics, not the panel manufacturer Samsung Display, so don't expect to see this matte coating on QD-OLEDs from other TV brands.

There's also a new entry-level model, the Samsung S85D, available in 55, 65, and 77-inch models. The mid-range Samsung S90D is also available in new 42- and 48-inch sizes. It's likely that those new sizes and the cheaper S85D use WOLED panels from LG, but we don't know for sure yet.

8k LED

Samsung is one of the only TV manufacturers still pushing 8k TVs, and they announced two new models this year: the Samsung QN900D and the Samsung QN800D. The QN900D is powered by Samsung's new QN8 AI Gen3 processor, which Samsung claims to be twice as fast as the picture processor in the Samsung QN900C 8k QLED. This, in turn, powers Samsung's new AI Upscaling Pro and AI Motion Enhancer Pro features, which they advertise to improve upscaling quality significantly and deliver better motion handling when watching sports. Samsung confirmed to us that this new processor will only be available on the QN900D. We've also seen reports of an entry-level 8k QN700D, but it has yet to be confirmed or announced by Samsung.

4k LED

We don't know much about Samsung's new 4k lineup, but at least three new Mini LED models have been confirmed—the QN95D, QN90D, and QN85D. Samsung hasn't said much about them, but these models are expected to have marginal improvements over the 2023 models, but nothing groundbreaking. Samsung has also confirmed the existence of at least two new entry-level 4k TVs in their Crystal UHD lineup, the DU6900 and the DU7000. We don't expect those two models to have anything new this year; they'll likely be nearly identical to the 2023 models.

MicroLED

Samsung has been talking about its MicroLED technology, available in a product known as "The Wall," for a few years now. But we have yet to see wide commercial availability of the product. It seems like that might finally be changed. Samsung has made some significant changes to the manufacturing process, allowing them to decrease production time on each MicroLED cell significantly. They've also developed new panel matching techniques that significantly improve uniformity, and of the multiple MicroLED technologies we saw at CES 2024, Samsung's The Wall looked the best. We don't know yet when you'll be able to walk into your local big box store and pick up a 77-inch The Wall, but from what we've seen, it's coming sooner rather than later, but it won't be cheap.

Transparent MicroLED

Like the LG Signature OLED T, Samsung also announced their own transparent TV technology. Unlike LG, Samsung's version uses MicroLED technology, so they can configure it to almost any size or shape needed.

Samsung is definitely looking at this technology more for its potential commercial applications than for residential use. One potential application they showed off was an overlay on a window in a sports venue. They could show an overlay on the window to display players' names, the score, time remaining, etc. If a flag is thrown or play stops, additional information or even instant replays could be shown directly on the screen without significantly blocking your view of the playing field.

Product Naming

Samsung's lineup covers everything from budget to high-end models. As a rule of thumb, the higher the number, the better it is, although sometimes the improvements aren't worth it. Samsung releases four main TV lineups, and they use a consistent naming scheme for the top three lineups that make it very easy to understand what you're buying simply by looking at the model number.

Samsung uses the prefix 'Q' to denote their midrange QLED models, and the last letter of these models also reflects the model year. They introduced the Mini LED lineup in 2021, denoted by the prefix 'QN' in the model name, like the Samsung QN90D. Their entry-level non-QLED models follow a slightly different naming structure; the prefix letters denote the year. For example, the AU8000 is the 2021 entry-level model, and 2024 models follow the DU*000 naming scheme.

Smart Features

In the infancy of smart TVs, Samsung was the leader in functionality and smart features. It isn't to say that they were very good, as it took quite a few years for Smart TV platforms to mature into something comparable to external set-top boxes. However, other companies have caught up to Samsung and offer similar all-around performance, like Roku TV or LG's webOS, meaning the best Samsung smart TV isn't much better than smart TVs from other brands.

Samsung has constantly been updating its Tizen platform to ensure it competes with its competitors. In 2017, they added voice capabilities to their remote and smart platform, making it easier to navigate through menus. In 2018, they added Bixby virtual assistant, so you can use voice to control other Samsung devices in your house, like lights, fridges, and door locks. The 2020 update featured a new, sleeker look with a 'Dark Mode' that isn't as bright as the white theme in older versions, and the 2022 version has a new full-screen webpage, which is an improvement over past versions that had all the apps and settings in a toolbar.

Interface

Samsung Smart Interface

The interface is very simple and easy to navigate. As of 2022, Samsung has had a full-screen webpage instead of the toolbar they had in past years. You'll find downloaded apps here, and you can quickly access the different inputs and settings. The interface works well, and there are many animations, but these can be slower on lower-end TVs.

Ad-free

Samsung Ads

Unfortunately, Samsung's Smart Hub also shows ads on the home screen. They appear in the same row as the installed Samsung Smart TV apps, and you can't disable them.

You can opt out of personalized advertising in the settings, but unfortunately, that only means that you'll see very repetitive ads instead of targeted ones.

Apps & Features

The app selection is pretty extensive nowadays. All the popular video and music services are available. Fortunately, the search function is quite good, and results come up very quickly. Like LG's webOS and Google TV on Sony TVs, Samsung TVs have an excellent selection of apps, and most streaming services are available.

Voice Controls

Samsung overhauled Voice Command in 2017, and voice controls are pretty good now. They updated other smart interfaces in 2018 to search for content and apps and change settings, something Samsung has been able to do for a few years. Even more in-depth stuff like calibration settings are only a button press away, which is quite nice.

  • Changing inputs
  • Launching apps
  • Basic online searches, including "What time is it?" or "How's the weather in New York?"
  • Changing some settings

It's also possible to search within apps, but only a few apps support this. It isn't possible to search Netflix, for example, but YouTube is a go.

Remote

Samsung Smart TV Remote

Samsung updated their remote with the release of the 2022 TVs. It features the same buttons as remotes from previous years, except with a redesigned body with brushed plastic on the bottom. There are quick-access buttons to popular streaming services and for your voice control. It's minimal compared to traditional TV remotes, as you don't get a Numpad, but you still get navigation buttons. It's small and sleek-looking.

What sets this remote apart is that the QLED lineup comes with a solar-powered remote, as do the QD-OLED TVs. You can charge the remote using the solar panel on the back, and if that's not possible, there's a USB-C port, but it doesn't come with a USB-C cable. The entry-level Samsung CU7000/CU7000D has the same remote but uses disposable batteries.

Known Issues

It's less common now than in previous years, but Samsung TVs often have issues with Wi-Fi connections. They'll randomly stop functioning after leaving the TV off for a while and require you to set up the connection again, which is quite annoying.

Recent Updates

  1. Mar 13, 2024: Added more information on the Samsung S95C OLED in the 'Best Samsung TV' category to better compare it to the Samsung S90C OLED.

  2. Feb 16, 2024: Added the lack of Dolby Vision and DTS support as a con in the 'Compared To Other Brands' section.

  3. Jan 18, 2024: Added information on the 2024 lineup.

  4. Dec 12, 2023: The Samsung QN85C/QN85CD QLED is now the 'Best Mid-Range Samsung TV', pushing the Samsung Q80C QLED to the 'Best Lower Mid-Range Samsung TV'. The Samsung Q60C QLED is now the 'Best Budget Samsung TV', replacing the worse Samsung CU7000 in that category.

  5. Nov 15, 2023: We now mention the Samsung QN95C QLED alongside the Samsung QN90C/QN90CD QLED in the 'Best Upper Mid-Range Samsung TV' pick. Otherwise, we verified our picks for availability.

Conclusion

Samsung, in general, makes very good TVs. Their range has increased in price, but most people will still find a TV that suits their needs. Their smart features could be better, but they're still quite good. They're usually quite versatile and fit most uses. You might have to pay a premium for their TVs, but you'll get excellent picture quality, especially with the higher-end models. Ultimately, if you're looking for the best Samsung TV for your needs, you're sure to find great picture quality.

Test Results