Samsung has served up the biggest television range around for the past few years, making picking the best Samsung TV for your needs a far from straightforward task.
The South Korean manufacturer provides options across a huge range of price points and specifications, but one thing that’s been conspicuously absent from its lineup over the past decade is any sort of OLED support. That’s changed for 2022, however, with Samsung’s new twist on OLED technology, Quantum Dot OLED, providing competition for key rivals LG and Sony.
The S95B OLED is just one of a number of Samsung televisions launched this year and while the choice the new range offers is very welcome, it makes working out which TV to buy a little tricky. To help you choose the right Samsung TV, we’ve selected the five best entries in Samsung’s 2022 lineup and put together a buying guide detailing all the things to consider before making buying one.
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Picking the Samsung TV best suited to your needs has for historiclly meant picking from a variety of different Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) TV specifications. That’s changed in 2022, though, with the arrival of the brand’s S95B range.
Now you need to think about whether a self-emissive QD OLED or LCD TV will suit your viewing habits and wants best, as well as trying to pick between mini LED, Quantum Dot LCD or more affordable edge-lit LCD technologies.
Samsung’s TV range has also been complicated by the arrival of a few low-contrast IPS-type LCD panels alongside the more contrast-rich VA panels the brand once exclusively used. Some sizes of its QN85B and most sizes of the QN80B Mini LED range use IPS panels, for instance. We typically recommend VA panels over IPS panels due to their better contrast, though the latter normally have superior viewing angles.
With that important information out of the way, you can begin narrowing down your shortlist by asking the following key questions.
Unless you’re lucky enough to be a member of the ‘money’s no object’ club, picking a budget you can comfortably handle will immediately trim down your Samsung TV consideration list. Especially as Samsung’s premium Mini LED and 8K Mini LED TVs are among the most expensive sets available from any brand.
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If you spend most of your time watching regular TV broadcasts, you will typically want to go for a TV that delivers a good combination of brightness and value. Samsung’s premium Mini LED models are its brightest but they also cost a lot. So, for most relatively casual (rather than home cinema oriented) viewers, a better option would be a mid-range set such as the Quantum Dot-based Q70B or the Crystal Colour BU8000.
If you’re a serious gamer, you’ll need a fairly high-end model with 4K/120Hz and variable refresh rate support. And if you’re a serious movie fan, we’d recommend as premium a picture engine as your budget can afford, and so would suggest Samsung’s new S95B QD OLED sets, a premium 4K Mini LED set or, if your budget is up to it, an 8K Mini LED model.
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Any TV you buy should be capable of connecting all the AV sources you own and ideally be able to unlock the maximum performance from those sources. These days the only connections that count for most people are HDMIs. So, you should ensure that the TV you settle on has enough of those to accommodate whatever Blu-ray/4K Blu-ray players, Sky or Virgin receivers, streaming boxes or games consoles you own.
Not all HDMIs are equal, though. Different grades of HDMI can support different features due to the different amounts of data they can ship. This is particularly important if you’re into gaming, as if you own a Sony PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X or recent high-end PC you will want a set with HDMI 2.1 ports capable of handling 4K resolution at frame rates of 120Hz, variable refresh rates (VRR) and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) for automatically switching a display into Game mode when a game source is detected.
If you opt for one of Samsung’s LCD TVs rather than its new S95B QD OLED, it’s important to note that the company produces three types of Liquid Crystal Display panels.
Its most basic (found on the Q70B and below) are illuminated by regular LEDs situated around the edges of their panels. These lack the ability to dim specific areas of the panel and therefore deliver inferior contrast to more advanced models.
Above the basic LED LCD options are those that support Full Array Local Dimming (FALD). Here, regular sized LEDs are placed behind the screen and driven by a number of dimming zones. The Q80B range supports this approach - though some screen sizes of this range use IPS panels.
The flagship system is Mini LED, where much smaller LEDs are used, so more of them can be fitted into the available screen area. The LEDs are grouped into hundreds, or in some cases, thousands of separate dimming zones, and this allows for much finer light control. Samsung calls these models Neo QLED sets, and they can be identified by ‘QN’ letters before the final numbers in their model names.
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Price: From £1,899 (55in) | Buy now from John Lewis
While Samsung oddly hasn’t marketed the S95B particularly hard, you don’t have to spend long ogling it to realise that Quantum Dot OLED technology is the real deal. This is especially true when it comes to colour. The way the S95B creates its colours without having to deploy a white element like regular OLED TVs do allows bright colours to appear with greater richness and vibrancy, taking colours in films we’ve watched a dozen times to places we’ve never seen them go before.
The S95B’s ground-breaking colours are partnered with a contrast performance that doesn’t just rival but actually beats that of regular OLED TVs, thanks to the way near-perfect deep black pixels can sit right next to pure white pixels that are brighter than those any regular OLED can muster.
Its 4K detailing and clarity are excellent too, and, unlike LCD TVs, you can watch it from pretty much any angle without picture quality diminishing. Add to all this support for stunning 4K/120Hz, HDR and variable refresh rate gaming and you’ve got something that feels, even with this debut model, like the next step in TV evolution.
Key specs - Screen sizes: 55in and 65in; Panel type: QD OLED; HDR format support: HDR10, HLG, HDR10+; Connectivity: 4 x HDMI 2.1, 2 x USB-A, digital optical audio output, Ethernet, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, RF tuner port
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Price: From £479 (43in) | Buy now from Amazon
The eye-catchingly priced BU8000 inevitably requires you to accept a few compromises. Colours aren’t made using Quantum Dots, so they’re not quite as vibrant. Backlighting uses an edge-mounted LED system with no local dimming, so contrast is more limited. There’s no support, either, for the latest 4K/120Hz and variable refresh rate gaming features. None of these compromises, though, stop the BU8000 from being outstanding value.
Compared with other similarly priced sets it actually boasts a bounty of great performance enhancing features. Despite not using Quantum Dots, the BU8000’s Dynamic Crystal Colour system still delivers a wider colour range than most rivals. It’s also exceptionally bright, yet still retains more contrast than other LCD TVs in its price bracket.
Samsung’s picture processing gets impressive detail out of the BU8000’s native 4K resolution and, after a little tweaking, it also avoids the blurring and processing mess that motion in a picture often causes at this price level. Its Tizen-based smart system carries an exceptionally comprehensive range of apps, too, its remote control is, uniquely, solar powered, and its ‘AirSlim’ design gives it an unusually premium appearance for what it costs. Even if this TV was £200 dearer, we’d still think it was good value.
Key specs - Screen sizes: 43in, 50in, 55in, 60in, 65in, 70in 75in, 85in; Panel type: Edge-lit LED; HDR format support: HDR10, HLG, HDR10+; Connectivity: 3 x HDMI 2.0b, 2 x USB-A, Ethernet, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, RF tuner port
Price: £6,499 (75in) | Buy now from John Lewis
The QN900B is arguably the most spectacular ‘mainstream’ TV available today. For starters, tucked away inside its virtually edgeless ‘Infinity’ design is a native 8K resolution offering four times as many pixels as the vast majority of other TVs. As usual with Samsung 8K TVs, though, the massive pixel count is joined by all manner of other cutting edge picture features.
It uses a flagship version of Samsung’s Mini LED technology, where 1920 separately controlled lighting zones drive countless ultra-small LEDs to deliver pictures of jaw-dropping precision and punch, while brightness levels put OLED to shame. This brightness enables the QN900B to showcase the full light and colour range of today’s high dynamic range pictures.
There’s practically no native 8K content around at present, but Samsung’s AI-driven 8K upscaling engine converts 4K sources to 8K remarkably well, while the density of all those pixels crammed into the QN900B’s screen contributes to a seamless, lifelike image that’s pure cinema. We’ve linked the 75in model here as it offers the best balance between screen size and price but there’s also an 85in model available if your home cinema setup is able to accommodate something that big.
Key specs - Screen sizes: 65in, 75in and 85in; Panel type: Mini LED; HDR format support: HDR10, HLG, HDR10+; Connectivity: 4 x HDMI 2.1, 3 x USB-A digital optical audio output, Ethernet, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, RF tuner port
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Price: From £999 (55in) | Buy now from Currys
The Q70B feels like it was designed as much with gamers as movie fans in mind and strikes a very keen balance between price and performance. Its HDMIs support the 4K at 120Hz and variable refresh rate (including AMD Freesync Premium Pro) features most serious gamers now demand. It’s also got Samsung’s new GameBar menu screen, providing at a glance access to key information on your graphics feed, as well as quick access to key gaming-related adjustments.
The screen’s response time in its Game mode is exceptionally fast, and the set supports the HGiG system for a superior HDR experience. The Q70B also supports ultra-wide aspect ratios from PC games that offer wide field of view options; can automatically recognise when a console or PC is outputting game or video sources and adjust its settings accordingly; and even lets you raise the brightness of dark parts of the picture in isolation so that you can better spot enemies lurking in the shadows without spoiling the rest of the picture.
Add to all these gaming-related treats an ultra-sharp, bright, colourful but also surprisingly contrasty picture that also delivers the goods with regular TV and movie sources, and the Q70B can also add great all-round value to its many charms.
Key specs - Screen size: 55in, 65in, 75in and 85in; Panel type: Edge-lit LED; HDR format support: HDR10, HLG, HDR10+; Connectivity: 4 x HDMI 2.1, 2 x USB-A, Ethernet, optical digital audio output, Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi, RF tuner port
Price: From £1,199 (43in) | Buy now from John Lewis
Even the most attractive TVs turn into big ugly black holes in your gorgeous decor when not in use. Unless, that is, they’re one of Samsung’s The Frame sets. Far from gaping black holes, these unique TVs turn into works of art when you’re not watching them.
They can be fitted with a variety of magnetic clip-on frames - including wood finish options - of the sort you’d normally find around a painting rather than a TV. The ‘TV becomes a painting’ effect is further enhanced by an included ultra slim mount that lets you hang the TV flush to the wall and the ability to play digitised artworks (or your own digital photographs) on the screen in a low-power mode. The final touch is a remarkable ‘matte finish’ screen that suppresses all the reflections you get with normal TVs.
Happily, The Frame’s stunning style is accompanied by excellent picture quality too, full of high contrast, rich colours and beautiful 4K detail.
Key specs - Screen sizes: 32in, 43in, 50in, 55in, 65in, 75in and 85in; Panel type: Edge-lit LED; HDR format support: HDR10, HLG, HDR10+; Connectivity: 3 x HDMI 2.0, 1 x HDMI 2.1, 2 x USB-A, Ethernet, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, RF tuner port
Buy now from John Lewis
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