The Samsung QN85B QLED is a high-end TV, and it's the successor to the Samsung QN85A QLED. Part of Samsung's Neo QLED series of TVs, it features a Mini LED backlight, allowing for higher brightness levels and finer control of the local dimming zones. It sits between the Samsung Q80B QLED and the Samsung QN90B QLED. Like other Samsung TVs, it uses Samsung's proprietary Tizen OS smart interface, which offers a large selection of streaming apps and games. Extra features are a big focus for Samsung this year, and the QN85B is no exception. It's designed to interact with all of your other smart devices; to help you do that, it now supports Bixby, Google Assistant, and Alexa. It's also compatible with Google Duo, which supports video calls with up to 32 people directly on your TV by connecting a supported webcam to the TV.
Our Verdict
The Samsung QN85B is a great TV for most uses. Thanks to its high peak brightness and good viewing angle, it's an impressive TV for watching TV shows or sports in a bright room. It also has decent contrast and a great local dimming feature, so it's a very good choice for watching movies in either SDR or HDR in a dark room. It also has a quick response time, low input lag, and a great selection of gaming features that help it deliver a great gaming experience overall.
- Image remains accurate at an angle.
- Bright enough to overcome glare in a bright room.
- Easy-to-use smart interface with a great selection of apps.
- Low native contrast that causes blooming in dark scenes.
The Samsung QN85B is an impressive TV for watching TV shows in a bright room. It's incredibly bright, so even though it has just decent reflection handling, glare isn't an issue in a bright room. It has a very good viewing angle, which is great if you like to move around with the TV on or have a wide seating arrangement, as the image remains accurate from the sides. Finally, the Tizen OS smart interface has a huge selection of streaming apps, so you're sure to find your favorite content.
- Image remains accurate at an angle.
- Bright enough to overcome glare in a bright room.
- Upscales lower resolution content well.
- Easy-to-use smart interface with a great selection of apps.
- Low native contrast that causes blooming in dark scenes.
The Samsung QN85B is an impressive TV for watching sports in a bright room. It has a wide viewing angle, so the image remains accurate from the sides if you have a wide seating arrangement. It has a quick response time, so fast-moving objects (like the players) look clear, and it's easy to make out the action. It's also incredibly bright, so even though it has just decent reflection handling, glare isn't an issue in a bright room. Finally, it has good gray uniformity, with very little distracting dirty screen effect.
- Image remains accurate at an angle.
- Bright enough to overcome glare in a bright room.
- Easy-to-use smart interface with a great selection of apps.
- Fast response time.
- Low native contrast that causes blooming in dark scenes.
The Samsung QN85B is a great TV for gaming. It has a great response time, so fast-moving objects are clear, with a short blur trail, and it has fantastic low input lag, ensuring a responsive gaming experience. It has a great selection of additional gaming features, including support for both G-SYNC Compatible and FreeSync variable refresh rates, which helps reduce tearing in games. Finally, it looks good in a dark room, with decent contrast, but the local dimming feature performs a bit worse overall in 'Game' Mode.
- Exceptional low input lag.
- Supports FreeSync and G-SYNC Compatible VRR.
- Fast response time.
- Low native contrast that causes blooming in dark scenes.
- Lower peak brightness and worse local dimming in 'Game' Mode.
The Samsung QN85B is a very good TV for watching HDR movies in a dark room. It has a decent contrast ratio and a great local dimming feature, so blacks look black in a dark room, and bright highlights stand out with just a bit of blooming. It's remarkably bright in HDR, so bright highlights stand out the way they should, and it tracks the PQ EOTF well, which is great if you care about an accurate image. It has a very good color gamut, so the latest HDR content looks vivid and life-like.
- Fantastic peak brightness in HDR.
- Completely judder-free from all sources.
- Easy-to-use smart interface with a great selection of apps.
- Mediocre black uniformity.
- Low native contrast that causes blooming in dark scenes.
- Doesn't support Dolby Vision.
The Samsung QN85B is a great TV for gaming in HDR. It delivers a great gaming experience with low input lag, a fast response time, and a great selection of gaming features. It's remarkably bright in HDR, so bright highlights really stand out, and it can display a wide color gamut, so games that can take advantage of that look amazing. It has decent contrast, so blacks look black in a dark room, but sadly, the local dimming feature is a bit worse overall in 'Game' Mode, but it's still decent.
- Fantastic peak brightness in HDR.
- Exceptional low input lag.
- Supports FreeSync and G-SYNC Compatible VRR.
- Fast response time.
- Low native contrast that causes blooming in dark scenes.
- Lower peak brightness and worse local dimming in 'Game' Mode.
The Samsung QN85B is an excellent TV for use as a PC monitor. It has a wide viewing angle, so the sides of the screen remain accurate if you're sitting close to it. It has a fast response time, so fast motion looks clear, which is especially important if you're scrolling quickly through documents or websites. Chroma 4:4:4 signals are displayed properly, which is important for clear text from a PC, and it has low input lag, so it feels responsive when you're moving the mouse.
- Image remains accurate at an angle.
- Exceptional low input lag.
- Fast response time.
- Low native contrast that causes blooming in dark scenes.
Changelog
- Updated Sep 26, 2025: We uploaded the latest brightness measurements and uniformity photos for the Accelerated Longevity Test.
- Updated Jul 08, 2025: We uploaded the latest brightness measurements and uniformity photos for the Accelerated Longevity Test.
- Updated Apr 17, 2025: We uploaded the latest brightness measurements and uniformity photos for the Accelerated Longevity Test.
- Updated Feb 11, 2025: We uploaded the latest brightness measurements and uniformity photos for the Accelerated Longevity Test.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 65-inch QN85B (QN65QN85BAFXZA), which is also available in 55-inch, 75-inch, and 85-inch sizes. The 85-inch model uses a VA panel, so it has better native contrast but a worse viewing angle. Note that with Samsung TVs, the six letters after the short model code (AAFXZA in this case) vary between specific retailers and regions and even between different retailers.
There's also a Canada-exclusive variant released for Black Friday known as the Samsung QN88B QLED. It has a slightly better local dimming feature than the QN85B and better speakers, but that’s about it, the other specs are identical between them.
| Size | US Model | Short Model Code | Black Friday Canada | Panel Type | Ultra Viewing Angle Layer | Dimming Zones |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 55" | QN55QN85BAFXZA | QN55QN85B | QN55QN88B | ADS | No | Unknown |
| 65" | QN65QN85BAFXZA | QN65QN85B | QN65QN88B | ADS | No | 720 |
| 75" | QN75QN85BAFXZA | QN75QN85B | QN75QN88B | ADS | No | Unknown |
| 85" | QN85QN85BAFXZA | QN85QN85B | - | VA | Yes | Unknown |
If you come across a Samsung QN85B with a different panel type, or if it doesn't correspond to our review, let us know in the discussions, and we'll update our review.
Our unit was manufactured in March 2022, and you can see the label here.
Popular TV Comparisons
The Samsung QN85B is a great TV with one of the best local dimming features on the market. Despite the great local dimming feature, its native contrast ratio is much lower than other 4k LED TVs in this range. It's a great choice overall if you're in a bright room, but for dark room viewing, models with a VA panel are better. The Samsung QN85C/QN85CD QLED succeeded it, but both TVs are very similar, so don't worry about upgrading if you already own the QN85B.
For more options, check out our recommendations for the best TVs, the best QLED TVs, and the best 4k gaming TVs.
The Sony X90K/X90CK and the Samsung QN85B are both great TVs that are good for different scenarios. If you have a bright room with a wide seating area, the Samsung has a wider viewing angle and gets brighter, so visibility won't be an issue even in bright environments. However, if you tend to watch content in a dark room, the Sony delivers deeper blacks with less blooming.
The Samsung QN85B and Samsung QN85C are extremely similar TVs. The QN85C is the more accurate TV with a wider color volume, so it looks more vibrant than its predecessor. Inversely, the QN85B's local dimming zone transitions are a bit better than its successor except in Game Mode, where its zone transitions are noticeably worse than in other modes.
The Samsung QN85B is much better than the Samsung Q80A. The QN85B has a much better local dimming feature and a higher contrast ratio, so it looks better in a dark room, with more uniform blacks and less blooming around bright objects in darker scenes. The QN85B is also brighter, so bright highlights in HDR stand out better, and it can better overcome glare in bright rooms.
The Samsung QN85B is slightly worse than the Samsung QN85A. The QN85A has much better reflection handling, so it's better suited for a bright room. The QN85A also has a wider HDR color gamut, so HDR content has a bit more "pop" to it. On the other hand, the QN85B has a better local dimming feature, with less blooming around bright highlights in dark scenes. Whereas the QN85A only supports HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on one port, the QN85B supports HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on all four HDMI ports, so it's a bit more versatile, especially if you have multiple game consoles or a recent PC.
We buy and test dozens of TVs yearly, taking an objective, data-driven approach to deliver results you can trust. Our testing process is complex, with hundreds of individual tests that take over a week to complete. Most of our tests use specially designed test patterns that mimic real content, but we also use the same sources you have at home to ensure our results match the real-world experience. We use two main tools for our testing: a Colorimetry Research CR-100 colorimeter and a CR-250 spectroradiometer.
Test Results
Older Test Bench: This product has been tested using an older TV test methodology, before a major update. Some of the test results below aren't directly comparable with other TVs. Learn more
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