The Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED is a mid-range 4k LED TV in Samsung's 2021 QLED lineup, sitting below the Samsung Q80/Q80A QLED. It has features that are usually included with higher-end models, like its HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, 120Hz panel, and variable refresh rate (VRR) support. However, it also lacks some features that you normally find in higher-end TVs like a local dimming feature, and in Samsung's case, the 'Ultra Viewing Angle' technology. Still, it's a well-rounded TV that comes with the easy-to-use Tizen OS as its smart platform. It has a VA panel that performs best in dark rooms, and even in well-lit rooms visibility won't be an issue. Sadly, having a VA panel means it also has narrow viewing angles, and it's not a good choice for wide seating areas.
The Samsung Q70A is good for mixed usage. Thanks to its high contrast ratio, it's decent for watching movies and very good for gaming in the dark. It's also suited for watching shows and sports in well-lit rooms, as it gets bright enough to overcome glare. Its fast response time delivers smooth motion in content like sports and video games, and its low input lag makes it feel response when gaming or connected to a PC. HDR looks decent, but it doesn't get bright enough to bring out the brightest highlights, and it lacks a local dimming feature to improve the contrast.
The Samsung Q70A is decent for watching movies. While it doesn't have a local dimming feature, its native contrast is high enough to produce deep blacks that are ideal for watching movies in a dark room. It also removes 24p judder automatically from any source and has no issues upscaling DVDs or Blu-rays. That said, its fast response time can cause low frame rate content to stutter, which could be distracting during movies.
The Samsung Q70A is good for TV shows. It gets bright enough to overcome glare in most rooms, and while it has only decent reflection handling, visibility won't be an issue. Unfortunately, it has narrow viewing angles, so you lose image accuracy from the side. That said, it has no issues upscaling cable TV channels, and Tizen OS gives you access to most popular streaming apps.
The Samsung Q70A is good for watching sports. It has an impressive response time, so motion looks smooth with fast-moving balls or players. It gets bright enough to overcome glare in most rooms, and it also has decent reflection. That said, it has narrow viewing angles, so it's not ideal if you want to watch the game with a big group. It also has uniformity issues with dirty screen effect in the center, which can be distracting during sports.
The Samsung Q70A is very good for playing video games. Its impressive response time delivers a clear image with minimal motion blur, and it has an incredibly low input lag. It supports FreeSync variable refresh rate (VRR) technology to reduce screen tearing. Also, it supports 4k @ 120Hz games without issues, but it only has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on one port, which is disappointing if you have more than one HDMI 2.1 device.
The Samsung Q70A is decent for watching movies in HDR. It's helped by its exceptionally high contrast ratio, although it lacks local dimming to improve the picture quality in dark scenes. It also displays a wide color gamut for HDR, so it displays a wide range of colors. However, its HDR brightness is a bit limited, so the brightest highlights don't quite pop as they should.
The Samsung Q70A is good for HDR gaming, mostly due to its good gaming performance. The fast response time, low input lag, and VRR support deliver a smooth and a responsive gaming experience. However, its HDR brightness in Game Mode is only okay, so the brightest highlights don't pop as they should. On the upside, it supports all common resolutions for advanced consoles, including 4k @ 120Hz.
The Samsung Q70A is great for use as a PC monitor. It can display proper chroma 4:4:4 for all resolutions except 1440p, which is important for text clarity while using it as a PC monitor. It also has an incredibly low input lag for a responsive gaming experience. However, its narrow viewing angles can make the edges of the screen look washed out if you're sitting up close or if you need to use it in a meeting room with a wide seating area.
We tested the 55 inch Samsung Q70A, which also comes in 65, 75, and 85 inch sizes, and the testing results should be valid for those as well. There's a variant sold at Costco and Sam's Club as either the Samsung Q7 Series or the Samsung Q7DA. Although Samsung's European lineup tends to be a little bit different than in North America, the results from the North American Samsung Q70A also apply to the European version.
Size | US Model | Short Model Code | Panel Type |
---|---|---|---|
55" | QN55Q70AAFXZA | QN55Q70A | VA |
65" | QN65Q70AAFXZA | QN65Q70A | VA |
75" | QN75Q70AAFXZA | QN75Q70A | VA |
85" | QN85Q70AAFXZA | QN85Q70A | VA |
If you come across a Samsung Q70A with a different panel or that doesn't correspond to the review, let us know in the discussions, and we'll update it. Note that some tests, like gray uniformity, can vary between individual units.
The unit was manufactured in February 2021. You can see the label here.
The Samsung Q70A is a good mid-range 4k TV. While it lacks certain features that you get with higher-end models, like full-array backlighting and local dimming, it has an exceptionally high contrast ratio. Although there are better TVs for less, it comes with many advanced features like eARC, HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, and VRR support.
For more options, check out our recommendations for the best 4k TVs, the best 4k gaming TVs, and the best QLEDs.
The Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED is better overall than the Samsung Q60/Q60B QLED. The biggest difference between each is that the Q70A has more gaming features like HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, a 120Hz panel, and VRR support, all of which the Q60B doesn't have. Also, the Q70A has a much better response time for better motion handling. The Q70A also gets brighter in SDR, so it's better for well-lit rooms, but the Q60B still gets bright.
The Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED and the Samsung Q80/Q80B QLED are both good TVs with different strengths and weaknesses. Although the Q70A doesn't have a local dimming feature like the Q80B, it's still better for dark rooms because it displays deep blacks and has less blooming around bright objects. However, the Q80B gets brighter, especially in HDR, and it's a better choice for wide seating arrangements because it has a wider viewing angle. They each have HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, but the Q80B has it on all four inputs, while it's just limited to one input on the Q70A.
The Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED and the Sony X85K are both good TVs with similar features. There isn't much difference between them, so choosing one over the other comes down to personal preference. The Q70A gets a bit brighter and has better contrast, so the overall picture quality is slightly brighter, but it isn't a significant difference. If you watch content in Dolby Vision, the Sony TV supports it, which the Samsung model doesn't.
The Samsung Q80/Q80A QLED and the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED are good TVs with different panel types. The Q80A has an ADS panel, which has much wider viewing angles. It also gets significantly brighter in HDR, so highlights stand out the way they should. However, the Q70A has a VA panel with a much better contrast ratio and improved black uniformity. Even though the Q80A has a full-array local dimming feature, which the Q70A doesn't have, the Q70A is better for dark room viewing due to its higher contrast.
The Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED is the successor to the Samsung Q70/Q70T QLED, and while it offers a couple of improvements, it's not as big of a step up as you might expect. The biggest improvement is its response time. The Q70T has an okay response time but is likely not good enough for more competitive gamers, whereas the Q70A is significantly faster, resulting in less motion blur. The Q70A also gets a bit brighter in HDR, resulting in a better overall HDR experience, and its backlight flickers at a much higher frequency than the Q70T's, which is good news for those who are sensitive to flicker.
The Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED is better overall than the Samsung Q60/Q60A QLED. The Q70A offers better performance and more features. While they're both VA panels, the Q70A has a higher contrast ratio and similar viewing angles. It also has a faster response time, a 120Hz panel, and extra gaming features like VRR and ALLM, as well as an HDMI 2.1 port for advanced consoles. Meanwhile, the Q60A is limited to 60Hz and lacks most extra features. However, it's available in smaller sizes than the Q70A.
The Sony X90J and the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED are very similar. The main differences are that the Samsung doesn't have local dimming and doesn't get as bright in HDR. Its gradient handling isn't as good as the Sony's, which means you might see more banding in some content. However, if you plan on gaming, the Samsung is a better choice because it has lower input lag and supports FreeSync VRR. Also, the Sony can't display a 1440p @ 120Hz signal on the Xbox Series X or a 4k @ 120Hz signal in Dolby Vision.
The Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED and the Sony X85J are nearly identical. The Sony that we tested has better gray uniformity, but this can vary between units. The Samsung is a bit better for gaming, as it has lower input lag for a more responsive gaming experience, and it has FreeSync support. However, the Sony is G-SYNC compatible, which is good if you have a NVIDIA graphics card.
The Samsung QN85A QLED is better overall than the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED, but they have different panel types with advantages and disadvantages. It has an IPS-like panel with wide viewing angles, and the Q70A has a VA panel with better native contrast. However, the QN85A has a local dimming feature, which the Q70A doesn't have, to improve the picture quality in dark scenes. The QN85A also has better reflection handling, and it gets brighter, especially in HDR, making it the better choice for watching HDR content.
The LG C1 OLED is much better overall than the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED. The LG has an OLED panel with a much higher contrast ratio for deeper blacks, and it also has wider viewing angles and a quicker response time. However, the LED panel on the Samsung gets brighter in SDR, making it a better choice for well-lit rooms, and it won't burn in like an OLED.
The Samsung Q80/Q80T QLED is a bit better overall than the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED. While it has a lower contrast ratio as a result of its 'Ultra Viewing Angle' layer, it also has a local dimming feature to improve black levels, while the Q70A doesn't. Unfortunately, the Q80T suffers a bit when in 'Game Mode', as the local dimming and HDR brightness perform worse. Still, it has a slightly quicker response time, so motion looks clear. It also delivers a better HDR experience overall since it gets brighter than the Q70A in HDR.
The Sony X900H and the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED both perform well, although the Sony delivers better picture quality. While the Samsung has a higher native contrast ratio, the Sony's is still high, and it has a full-array local dimming feature to improve black levels. The Samsung has a lower input lag and comes with FreeSync support.
The Hisense U7G is much better than the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED. The Hisense has a full array local dimming system, it's brighter, and it's a bit more versatile, with two HDMI 2.1 ports instead of just one on the Samsung. The Hisense also has a composite input, great if you have an older video game console. Despite these advantages, some people might prefer the Samsung, as it has better black uniformity, better contrast, and it's more accurate out of the box.
The Sony X91J is better overall than the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED because it has more features. The Sony is only available in an 85 inch size, and the Samsung is available in 55 to 85 inch size models. The Sony delivers a better experience for watching movies because it has a local dimming feature, which the Samsung doesn't have, but the Samsung gets brighter if you want to use it in a well-lit room.
The Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED is better than the LG NANO85 2021. The Samsung has a higher contrast ratio, resulting in deeper blacks in a dark room. Although they each have decent reflection handling, the Samsung is also much better for bright rooms because it gets brighter and can better overcome glare. Finally, the Samsung TV has a slightly quicker response time and lower input lag for a better gaming experience.
The Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED and the LG NANO90 2021 are both good TVs that use different panel types. The Samsung has a VA panel with a much better contrast ratio, and even though it doesn't have local dimming like the LG, it's still a better choice for use in dark rooms. The LG doesn't get as bright as the Samsung, but it has much better reflection handling. The LG has an IPS panel with wide viewing angles, so it's a better choice for wide seating arrangements. They're both very good for gaming as they each have a 120Hz panel and VRR support, but the LG is G-SYNC compatible, which the Samsung isn't.
The Samsung The Frame 2021 and the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED perform very similarly overall. The Q70A edges out the Frame slightly because it has a better contrast ratio and higher peak brightness. That said, the Frame might be a better choice if you want a clean setup because it has the One Connect Box, and it comes with a no-gap wall mount.
The TCL R745 QLED is better overall than the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED. The TCL gets much brighter, making highlights pop in HDR, and it does a better job at fighting glare. The TCL has a local dimming feature, which the Samsung doesn't, but the local dimming makes the picture quality worse because there's a ton of blooming. The Samsung has more gaming features because it has lower input lag and an HDMI 2.1 input, which the TCL doesn't have, meaning that you can play 4k games up to 120fps on the Samsung.
The LG GX OLED is better than the Samsung Q70/Q70A QLED, but they're very different TVs. The LG is a high-end OLED, while the Samsung is a lower mid-range LED TV. The Samsung uses a VA panel, so it has a fantastic contrast ratio, but it still doesn't quite compare with the near-infinite contrast of the LG. The LG also has wider viewing angles, a faster response time, and feels more premium, but the Samsung doesn't have any risk of burn-in.
Samsung’s 2021 QLEDs are all very thin and sleek-looking, and this one is no exception. It’ll look great in any living room. The stand has a new design that's different from other Samsung TVs like the Samsung Q60/Q60A QLED and the Samsung Q80/Q80A QLED. It's center-mounted, so it can also fit on smaller tables.
The stand looks a little cheap, but it supports the TV well for the most part. It's center-mounted, so you can place it on a smaller table if you like. Also, it's flat so you can place a soundbar on top of it, but the soundbar won't block the screen if you place it on the table in front of the stand.
Footprint of the stand: 11.9" x 9.8"
The back is plastic with fine horizontal etchings to give it a brushed aluminum look. There are tracks along the back of the TV and the stand for cable management. As the inputs are side-facing, they're easy to access if the TV is wall-mounted.
The TV is very thin, and it will sit flat against the wall if you wall-mount it. Unlike the Samsung Q80/Q80A QLED, there's a slot to put the power cable so that it won't stick out.
The Samsung Q70A has good build quality. It feels well-built overall, despite some wobble due to the thin profile and narrow stand. The stand feels somewhat cheap, but it has a plastic cover that slides in to cover the two feet. Sadly, the bezels don't feel like they're flush around the screen, and there's a small gap.
Note: The tested unit arrived with some slight damage, as the bottom-left part of the border pops out a bit in a way it shouldn't, making it feel less solidly put together. This is just a defect with this unit alone, though, so it doesn't affect scoring, and it isn't a standard issue.
The Samsung Q70A has a fantastic contrast ratio. It’s among the highest native contrast ratios we’ve tested on an LED TV, which is a good thing considering it doesn’t have a local dimming feature. This means that it displays deep blacks when viewed in the dark. Contrast varies between units and considering it's such a high native contrast, there's a possibility your unit will have a lower native contrast, but it will still display deep blacks.
The Samsung Q70A QLED has excellent peak brightness. It gets very bright, and even though you won't get the same peak brightness as with Mini LED TVs like the Samsung QN90A QLED, it’s able to overcome glare in most lighting conditions.
These results are from after calibration, using the ‘Movie’ Picture Mode, with Brightness set to max, and Color Tone set to ‘Warm2’.
To get an ever brighter image, you can try setting the Picture Mode to ‘Dynamic’, Contrast Enhancer to ‘High’, Color Tone to ‘Standard’ and have Brightness and Contrast at max. It measured 631 nits using those settings, although it results in a less accurate image.
This TV doesn't have local dimming. We still film the videos for reference, so you can see how backlight on this display performs and compare it to a similar product with local dimming. If you want a large TV with a full-array local dimming feature, check out the TCL R745 QLED.
The videos are for reference only, so you can see how backlight on this display performs and compare it to a similar product with local dimming.
The Samsung Q70 has decent HDR brightness. It’s quite consistent across various scenes, but without a local dimming feature, small highlights don't stand out against the rest of the screen.
These measurements are from before calibration, using the ‘Movie HDR’ Picture Mode, with Brightness and Contrast set to max, Color Tone set to ‘Warm2’, and all additional picture processing settings disabled.
If you find HDR too dim, you can make it brighter by setting Contrast Enhancer to ‘High’ and ST.2084 to max. These settings result in this EOTF, which makes the image appear brighter, but it doesn't change the luminosity.
The HDR brightness in Game Mode is okay. Most highlights are slightly brighter than outside of Game Mode, except for small highlights, which are dim due to frame dimming. This means that small, specular highlights in games don't pop. Also, the EOTF in Game Mode is much worse than outside of Game Mode, so the entire image appears darker than intended.
The Samsung Q70A has decent gradient performance, although it's worse than the Samsung Q70/Q70T QLED. There's visible banding in the grays and greens, which is noticeable in scenes with gradients, like a sunset. If you notice banding with real content, you can enable Noise Reduction to help smooth out gradients, though you will lose fine details in some scenes in high-quality movies.
The gray uniformity is okay. The edges and corners of the screen are noticeably darker, and there's some dirty screen effect in the center. This is noticeable if you want to use the TV as a PC monitor or you watch sports with large areas of bright colors, like hockey or basketball. The uniformity is a bit better in near-dark scenes, but there's still some slight clouding or unevenness.
The Samsung Q70A has excellent black uniformity. There’s very little noticeable clouding throughout, and blooming around bright objects is fairly minimal, so bright objects in movies aren't distracting. While it's uniform, the entire screen has more of a blue-ish hue, but that's due to the lack of a local dimming feature.
The Samsung Q70A has narrow viewing angles, despite being advertised by Samsung as having a wide viewing angle. The image quickly starts to look washed out as you move off-center, and it's not ideal for wide seating arrangements. If you want a TV with wide viewing angles, then check out the LG NANO85 2021.
The Samsung Q70 has decent reflection handling. It does well with ambient light, but it struggles more with strong light sources as the reflections can get distracting. Combined with its high peak brightness, visibility won't be an issue in well-lit rooms.
The Samsung Q70A has excellent out-of-the-box accuracy. Most colors and white balance are accurate, and the color temperature is very close to the target. However, the gamma doesn't really follow the target. Most scenes, and very bright scenes especially, are over-brightened.
After calibration, the accuracy is incredible. Remaining inaccuracies aren't noticeable to the naked eye. The gamma and color temperature are almost perfect.
You can see the recommended settings here.
The Samsung Q70A uses a BGR subpixel layout. It doesn't affect image quality, but it can affect text clarity when using the TV as a PC monitor. You can read more about that here.
The Samsung Q70A has a very good color gamut. It's wide enough for HDR content, with excellent coverage of the common DCI P3 color space and fair coverage of the wider Rec. 2020. While its DCI P3 coverage is good enough for the large majority of HDR movies that use this color space, the Rec. 2020 coverage is more limited, so this TV isn't exactly future-proof because more movies will use the wider Rec. 2020 color space instead.
The color volume is okay. It handles dark, saturated colors pretty well thanks to its high contrast ratio, but it struggles to display bright blues like most LED TVs.
VA panels like this one appear to be immune to long-term burn-in according to the long-term test.
The Samsung Q70A uses pulse width modulation (PWM) to dim its backlight. In 'Movie' mode, it flickers at such a high frequency that most people won't notice it. In the 'Dynamic', 'Standard', 'Natural', and 'Filmmaker' Picture Modes, or with Picture Clarity enabled, the flicker drops down to 120Hz, which creates image duplication.
The flicker is inconsistent in Game Mode, and the flicker is noticeable with the Xbox Series X with VRR enabled, because it's flickering between 60-120Hz with the backlight at any setting, and this can become distracting. However, with VRR disabled on the Xbox, the flicker disappears. With a laptop with an RTX 3060 graphics card, it flickers at 960Hz with G-SYNC enabled and at 120Hz with G-SYNC disabled. Also, on a PC with a Radeon 6600 XT graphics card in Game Mode, it flickers at 480Hz with VRR both on and off.
This TV has an optional backlight strobing feature, also known as black frame insertion, that can help reduce persistence blur. It can flicker at 60Hz or 120Hz, depending on which setting you're using, both in and out of Game Mode. It looks good overall, but there's a bit of image duplication. The BFI score is based on how many frequencies the feature can flicker at and not how well it performs.
Due to the TV's quick response time, low frame rate content appears to stutter because each frame is held on longer. If you notice stuttering, you can try enabling motion interpolation.
The TV removes 24p judder from any source without enabling additional settings. This helps with the appearance of motion in movies.
The Samsung Q70A supports FreeSync VRR, which is automatically enabled in Game Mode to reduce screen tearing. It's not officially supported by NVIDIA to be G-SYNC compatible, but G-SYNC compatibility works without any screen tearing throughout the entire refresh rate range as long as the firmware is updated to version 1904 and above. However, at times with G-SYNC enabled 4k @ 120Hz signals would flash a black screen and would randomly stop working until the TV was reset. Still, if you don't experience these issues, VRR works fine.
The input lag is low, as long as you enable Game Mode, so gaming feels responsive. As with the other 2021 Samsung TVs we've tested, like the Samsung QN85A QLED, we couldn't get accurate input lag measurements with VRR enabled. We're looking into the issue, and we don't expect VRR to significantly affect input lag.
The TV supports most common resolutions, including native 4k @ 120Hz, with no issues. It can display proper chroma 4:4:4 as well, which is important for text clarity, but 4:4:4 doesn't work properly in 1440p. It works with 1080p and 4k signals, so text looks sharp when you're using it as a PC monitor.
The Samsung Q70A supports all resolutions for the latest consoles. It also has an Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) that automatically switches the TV to Game Mode for the lowest latency.
As this TV doesn't support Dolby Vision, if you stream Dolby Vision content, it will be limited to HDR10 instead. This TV only supports HDMI 2.1 on one input, and if you want something that has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on all four ports then check out the Samsung Q80/Q80B QLED.
The Samsung Q70A can pass Dolby Digital and Dolby Atmos audio formats to a compatible receiver to enhance your sound experience. It doesn't support DTS:X or DTS formats, so if you tend to watch content with those formats, this TV isn't ideal for you.
The TV has a poor frequency response. It's worse than other Samsung models, including the Samsung Q70/Q70T QLED. The bass is especially bad, and it doesn't get very loud. There's barely a difference in volume between 60 and 100. There's a room correction feature called Adaptive Sound+, and there wasn't a significant difference in the frequency response with it enabled or disabled. If you want a TV with better built-in speakers, check out the Samsung The Frame 2021.
The Tizen OS interface is smooth and easy to use. In 2021, it performs even more smoothly than in previous years, and there weren't any bugs during testing.
We couldn't get a photo of ads, but as with other Samsung TVs, ads appear on the home page and in the app store with no way to disable them.
The remote is Samsung's new 'Solar Cell' remote, which ditches batteries for a solar panel on the back. It can also be charged through USB-C, though it doesn't come with a cable. It includes shortcut buttons to popular streaming apps and to access voice control, with which you can adjust settings, change inputs, and perform searches but not within apps.