The best Samsung TVs are at the top of the TV pile in terms of build, picture quality, and features. But it’s worth bearing in mind the best Samsung TV for you isn’t always the most expensive model in the line-up as there’s much more to choose from.
Samsung makes a lot of the sets featured in our best TVs guide. It's also a versatile brand, creating some of the best OLED TVs, such as the brilliant Samsung S90C (our 2023 TV of the Year) QLEDs such as the Samsung Q80C and mini-LEDs (Neo QLED) such as the Samsung QN90C, giving people a lot of different options.
We know how Samsung measures up to not only the competition, but also previous generations of Samsung TVs having reviewed hundreds of TVs in our time They also appear in our best 55-inch TVs and best 65-inch TVs guides, some of the most popular sizes around,
Whether you're a Samsung fan or newbie who wants to know what Samsung TV is best for sport, gaming and more, check out our list below.
The quick list
If you want to quickly find the perfect Samsung TV for you, try this list – you can also get a more in-depth write-up of any particular model by clicking the TV link!
Best overall
Our top TV that we think will suit most people thanks to its stunningly bright, contrast-rich pictures and excellent gaming support. Truly great value for a QD-OLED.
Best premium
Impeccable picture quality, excellent gaming prowess and a stylish design make the Samsung S95D the very definition of a premium TV experience.
Best budget
A well designed TV with a picture quality that has punchy, vibrant color, Samsung's CU8000 is feature packed. Just don't expect the complete package.
Best mid-range
A well-priced Samsung TV that delivers HDR pictures with surprisingly great lighting control and rich detail. Buy it if you want brightness and color but can’t afford a mini-LED TV.
Best 8K TV
The QN900D impresses with gorgeous textures, effective 8K upscaling, and smooth motion. It's Samsung's best-performing mini-LED TV, and is worth its high price.
Best cheaper 8K TV
It may not hit the heights of the QN900D, but the QN800D delivers impressive details and upscaling in its own right - and it's quite a bit cheaper.
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Best 4K mini-LED
This 4K mini-LED boasts high brightness and an anti-glare screen, making it ideal for daytime TV and sports viewing. It's a solid choice if you're looking for a gaming TV, too.
Best affordable mini-LED
This has lower brightness than more premium mini-LEDs, but its performance is still very good, and it's packed with top gaming features and advanced processing.
The best Samsung TVs of 2024
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The best Samsung TV overall
The Samsung S90C is our top pick to suit most people. It comes with a great range of connectivity options and gaming support, with full 4K 120Hz and variable refresh rate gaming graphics across all four of its HDMIs. It also has Samsung’s Neural Quantum 4K processor, which uses 20 neural networks to introduce multiple 'AI'-based refinements to the way the TV treats incoming sources – including better upscaling of HD and SD content to the screen’s native 4K resolution.
Picture quality is stunningly bright here, presenting you with contrast-rich pictures. The S90C might not give you the full 2023 QD-OLED experience you'd get with Samsung’s S95C further down in this list, but it still manages unlock a higher level of brightness and color depth than other OLED's at the same price. It's also watchable from almost any viewing position.
Design-wise, the Samsung S90C has an incredibly thin panel, especially at its edges. It's a little chunkier in the middle because that's where its external connections/processing box is. Some people who don't like cables might want an external box instead, but this design is likely one of the reasons that the S90C is excellent value.
The Samsung S90C is great value for a QD-OLED. It doesn't cost that much more than LG’s C3 model, but the boost you get in brightness and sound quality is worth the extra cost. Compared to the S95C it's not as bright, but there are times where the S90C arguably retains a touch more consistency and balance than its more expensive siblings.
Read our full Samsung S90C review
The best premium OLED Samsung TV
The Samsung S95D is the company's 2024 flagship OLED TV. It carries many of the same great features as its predecessor, the Samsung S95C, but adds excellent anti-reflection tech that successfully addresses one of OLED tech's biggest issues: screen reflections.
Maintaining excellent picture quality despite its matte screen (part of the anti-reflection measures), the S95D also offers incredible picture detail, with refined textures and the rich contrast, bold colors and high brightness you'd expect from a QD-OLED TV. You may need to tweak some picture settings (black crush is present in Filmmaker Mode) but once you do, the S95D delivers an outstanding picture.
The S95D also serves as an excellent gaming companion, with four HDMI 2.1 ports all supporting up to 144Hz refresh rate, VRR (with AMD FreeSync Premium Pro), ALLM and more. Plus, it comes with Samsung's useful Gaming Hub, which locates all gaming features in one place.
Design is another highlight, with a sleek, modern look and a 'floating' appearance thanks to its unique stand design. Even the built-in audio and Tizen smart TV system pitch in to make the S95D great.
A TV of this quality predictably carries a high price tag, but if you can stretch your budget, the S95D is worth the money.
The best budget Samsung TV
The Samsung CU8000 is the best budget option in Samsung's 2023 lineup that we've tested. Although its picture many not be perfect and it's missing some gaming features, there's still plenty of positives including vivid colors, a great suite of features, an intuitive smart TV platform and an attractive design that feels premium – all for a very competitive price.
The Samsung CU8000's picture is admittedly a mixed bag. During brighter scenes, it excels with good levels of brightness and punchy colors that make it feel more premium than it is. Unfortunately, due to its edge-lit backlight, it does suffer from black uniformity (the ability to evenly display dark tones across the screen) issues and its contrast levels are lacking. However, this was noticeable on the larger 75-inch screen we tested and although it may be an issue on smaller models, such as the 43- and 50-inch, it's likely to be as prevalent.
Gaming performance on the CU8000 is solid. During graphically intense scenes, the CU8000 handled fast paced battles in Battlefield V well, as quickly switching between targets felt easy enough. The CU8000 is missing some features that hold it back from gaming greatness such as 120Hz and VRR support, but a 10ms input lag time and a useful Game Hub with cloud gaming options from Xbox and Nvidia mean this has plenty of gaming chops at this price.
It can't all be good news, unfortunately, as aside from the mixed picture performance, the CU8000's audio is lacking, with a very thin, tinny sound, which means it will definitely benefit from a soundbar.
But for the money it costs, roughly priced at $499/£499/AU$995 for a 55-inch at the time of writing, there's still plenty of great features and performance with the CU8000 that means it's the best budget Samsung you can get.
Read our full Samsung CU8000 review
The best mid-range Samsung TV
The Samsung Q80 range has been the hidden gem in Samsung's extensive TV lineup for a couple of years now, offering a near complete package of performance and features at an affordable, mid-range price – and the Q80D is no different.
The Q80D uses a QLED panel and while this can sometimes result in inconsistent contrast and black levels (compared to mini-LED and OLED especially), the Q80D didn't suffer from this issue during our time testing it. We found that it delivers rich contrast and effective, accurate black levels, avoiding the gray 'wash' that can sometimes plague LED and QLED TVs. The Q80D's colors are also vibrant, punchy and accurate (admittedly after some tweaking). Picture-wise, the Q80D outperforms its mid-range price compared to its peers.
Gaming is also well covered by the Q80D as well, with four HDMI 2.1 ports supporting 4K, 120Hz, VRR (including AMD FreeSync Premium) ALLM and the ever-useful Samsung Game Hub. We measured a strikingly low 9.8ms input lag time, rivalling even some of the most premium mini-LED and OLED sets on the market.
It's not absolute perfection for the Q80D, as there is some fading of contrast when viewed off-axis, and it doesn't have the same premium thin design as other Samsung models, but these are its only real drawbacks – even built-in sound quality is surprisingly solid all-around. The Q80D once again is a hidden gem and will prove to be one of the popular mid-range options of 2024 – it's definitely the best in Samsung's lineup.
Read our full Samsung Q80D review
The best 8K Samsung TV
The Samsung QN900D is a premium experience. It's effective 8K upscaling, excellent details, premium design and full suite of gaming features go that one step further than equivalent 4K TVs can do, resulting in the five-star rating in our review – but that upgrade comes at a serious step-up in price.
The first thing you notice on the QN900D is its breath-taking textures and details that take on a lifelike look. This is thanks to its Real Depth Enhancer Pro AI feature, that sharpens images to this lifelike state, combined with its excellent 8K upscaling, giving 4K sources that extra depth. It also has deep contrast, brilliant colors and superb motion handling when viewing sports. The QN900D really does everything with its picture.
At this level, you'd hope for an excellent gaming experience – and the QN900D delivers. Not only does it have the four fully kitted HDMI 2.1 ports, with 4K, 120Hz, VRR (AMD FreeSync Premium Pro included) and ALLM, but it also has a model-exclusive feature: 240Hz refresh rate for PC gaming. It also features the lauded Samsung Game Hub that has access to plenty of cloud gaming apps.
Of course, the QN900D's main kryptonite is its price tag. For all these features and an 8K panel, you're looking at paying a real premium – at least double what the highest-end 4K Neo QLED set costs – but if you can stretch your budget to this level, the QN900D is worth every penny and then some.
Read our full Samsung QN900D review
The best cheaper 8K Samsung TV
The QN800D may not hit the same spectacular performance levels of its more premium 8K counterpart, the QN900D, but it is still an outstanding TV in its own right – and offers stunning 8K textures at a slightly more affordable (though still expensive) price.
Much like the QN900D, the QN800D has exceptional object detailing, capturing the same lifelike appearance. Its 8K upscaling is extremely effective to make this work, taking 4K pictures to the next level. It also features excellent local dimming, showcasing great contrast and black levels, while its bold, vivid colors suit HDR movies and pictures as well. There is some minor backlight blooming present, but it's generally expected with mini-LED – and we found the QN800D's to be better than normal in our testing.
Also similar to the QN900D, the QN800D's gaming performance and features are superb. It has four HDMI 2.1 ports, with not only 4K 120Hz, but also 8K 60Hz, VRR (including AMD FreeSync Premium Pro), auto low latency mode, and Samsung's Game Hub. It also has plenty of cloud gaming options from Xbox, Nvidia GeForce Now, Luna and more. It carries across its impressive picture quality from movies to games too, especially textures.
Of course, because it's an 8K TV, the QN800D carries a high price tag that overshadows its 4K cousins. However, it is noticeably cheaper than the more premium QN900D (roughly $1,000/£1,000 cheaper!) and while not achieving quite the same stunning results, the QN800D still ticks pretty much every box and its picture really is a sight to behold – it's an 8K marvel in its own right. If you can't quite get to the QN900D with your budget, the QN800D won't let you down and will save some money doing it.
Read our full Samsung QN800D review
The best 4K mini-LED Samsung TV
The Samsung QN90D is a great all-around mini-LED 4K TV, offering high brightness, solid black levels, and a comprehensive suite of gaming features. Its bright picture, anti-reflective screen, and wide viewing angle make it a perfect TV for viewing sports, and it’s available in screen sizes from 43 inches up to 98 inches to accommodate a range of viewing situations.
While the QN90D has a picture that stands out when viewed in bright rooms, it’s also great for movie-watching in dim environments. In our QN90D review, we said it “demonstrated deep blacks and rich contrast” and we also cited its “superb” shadow detail. A new NQ4 AI Gen2 Processor, the same one found in Samsung’s flagship S95D OLED TV, does a remarkable job fleshing out picture detail, and an Auto HDR Remastering feature effectively uses AI to add high dynamic range effects to standard dynamic range content.
The QN90D has an appealingly thin design with a substantial aluminum pedestal stand to keep it firmly in place. It also comes with Samsung’s SolarCell remote control, which uses an integrated solar panel and USB-C connection for charging in place of disposable batteries. A 4.2.2-channel, 60W speaker array delivers good overall sound, and Samsung’s Object Tracking Sound+ feature ensures that dialogue and sound effects accurately connect with the onscreen action.
Samsung TVs regularly rank among the best TVs for gaming and the QN90D continues that tradition by providing four HDMI 2.1 ports with 4K 120Hz (and up to 144Hz for PC gaming), VRR including AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, and ALLM support. Samsung’s Gaming Hub in the TV’s Tizen smart interface provides further cloud-based gaming options from Xbox, Nvidia GeForce Now and other services, and input lag is a low 9.9ms with the TV in Game mode.
Read our full Samsung QN90D review
The best affordable mini-LED Samsung TV
The Samsung QN85D faces a lot of budget competition from the likes of Hisense and TCL, both of which carry similar levels of performance and features as the QN85D. However, it beats them by offering HDMI 2.1 gaming features on all four ports, while still offering a good quality picture, plus Samsung's Tizen TV platform. It serves as the most affordable mini-LED in Samsung's 2024 range, too.
Picture quality on the QN85D is solid. Its natural textures and strong contrast levels are the main highlights, with a rich color as well, especially noticeable in HDR movies. Its black levels, while generally decent, did suffer from a gray hue on occasion that can happen with mini-LED sets. Motion was also generally well-handled, but required some tinkering to get right during our testing.
Like many Samsung TVs, the QN85D is a great option for gaming. It comes with the near-full suite of features gamers will hope for like 4K, 120Hz, VRR (AMD FreeSync Premium Pro as well) the Samsung Game Hub and ALLM. It also has an extremely good 10.1ms input lag time to make everything feel smooth and seamless even in the most intense games.
In terms of pure value for money, the Samsung QN85D is a little behind the Hisense U8N or the TCL QM851G – but in this guide, it splits the difference very well between Samsung's higher-end mini-LED or OLED TVs, and its more affordable models.
Read our full Samsung QN85D review
How to choose the best Samsung TV
With so many models to choose from, finding the best Samsung TV for you isn't always easy. But before you dive into the detailed specs of each model, here are a few key things we think you need to consider.
The first is budget. You might be able to bump up the price you can spend a little if you find the perfect TV – or find a great deal in the Black Friday sales – but it's a good idea to set a limit to begin with so you don't fall in love with the unrivalled images and features of a TV that's well above your budget.
Next up: size. It's tempting to always assume bigger is better when it comes to TVs. However, the size of the screen you should buy needs to be dictated by how far away you'll be sitting from it.
Many manufacturers, including Samsung, recommend sitting between 1.5 and 2.5 times the TV's diagonal screen size to find your perfect viewing spot. Get out the tape measure and ensure you have enough space to fit the TV and enough room between the TV and where you plan to sit.
In our best Samsung TV guide above, there are also a range of panel types – like LED and QLED – and HDR capabilities to consider.
Finally, if you're willing to buy a soundbar, you don't need to agonise about audio. However, if you'd like an all-in-one cinema system, consider a TV that delivers great audio as well as a fantastic picture, like the Samsung QN900B Neo QLED 8K.
And do you even need a Samsung TV? There's a lot to love about Samsung's TVs, but it may also be worth your time to take a look at our best LG TV and best Sony TV guides as well.
Are Samsung TVs any good?
Considering you've made it this far, we're guessing you had Samsung in mind. But why else would you look for the best Samsung TV?
You'll find multiple Samsung TVs across our guides. The flagship models are generally class-leading in terms of technology, while the more affordable options don't cut the wrong corners; they deliver excellent value for money. Samsung's Tizen OS is one of the best smart TV platforms too, although some of us feel that the most recent changes to its user interface were a step backwards rather than forwards. But it's still an excellent OS.
The one big downside that applies to all current Samsung TVs is that they don't support Dolby Vision, an HDR format that delivers higher brightness and better colors than HDR10. Samsung TVs support all the other key ones, but it does mean you won't benefit from Dolby Vision content on devices such as the Xbox Series X.
That's a minor niggle, though. The sheer size of Samsung's TV range – and its constant launching of even better models – means that the firm offers multiple high quality models in ever major market sector and at every price point too. If you're looking for good quality without breaking the bank, Samsung TVs definitely get our seal of approval.
Is QLED better than OLED?
With both QLED and OLED vying for your attention, it can be tricky to know what's best for your situation. We've broken down the differences in our OLED and QLED guide. But it's also fairly easy to summarise. QLED use LED backlights to illuminate the screen and OLED's pixels illuminate individually. That means OLED typically offers much better black and grey reproduction than QLED, but QLED is significantly brighter.
Until fairly recently Samsung was sticking firmly with LED technology rather than OLED, so while firms such as LG were building their brands on high performance OLED displays Samsung concentrated instead on its brighter, more responsive and more affordable Quantum Dot LEDs, or QD-LED for short. Samsung has also brought some very impressive mini-LED TVs to market, and its latest flagships are QD-OLED. That means they have the incredible contrast of OLED TVs but the brightness of QD-LED, which for many buyers means they offer the best of both worlds.
If you're buying on a budget, QLED definitely gives you more brightness for your buck than the equivalent OLED – but if you're a fan of old movies and want to see them as the director and cinematographer intended, OLED is a better bet. And if you can't decide? We're pretty impressed by Samsung's mini-LED, and we'll like QD-OLED even more when the prices come down.
How do Samsung TVs compare to other manufacturers?
Samsung QLED, mini-LED and QD-OLED TVs are known to be some of the brightest, most color-saturated televisions on the planet. With Tizen built-in, they're well-stocked with the latest apps, and most of the mid-range and high-end models have high levels of quality control. However, budget models make some concessions and generally don't look as good as models from TCL or Hisense, but are in line with LG's cheaper TVs.
We feel Sony does a better job overall with motion handling and LG seems to understand how to do upscaling the best of the big three, but Samsung remains competent in all major areas with no real weak spots.
What's next for the best Samsung TVs?
Samsung's adventures with mini-LED, micro-LED and QD-OLED are still relatively new, and we'd expect Samsung to continue making more models with those technologies in the coming year. Samsung's been pushing gaming hard too, with the Xbox cloud gaming app appearing in its newer TVs and a growing number of TVs sporting HDMI 2.1 ports with the key gaming features for the top consoles.
How we test the best Samsung TVs
When it comes to how we test the best Samsung TVs, we'll put it through all the same tests we do for any other brand, looking at specific criteria such as picture quality, gaming performance, built-in audio and more.
For starters, we put all of the sets in this list to the test with standard definition, 1080p, 4K and even 8K content resolutions (if applicable) to see how they perform. During this, we'll choose the most accurate picture preset and begin our subjective tests using reference scenes we're familiar with so we know a TVs strengths and weaknesses.
For picture, we're looking for bold, dynamic color that isn't too oversaturated, rich black levels that are accurate and good contrast that's well-balanced when it comes to light and dark sections of the screen. We'll also test motion - how does the TV handle motion naturally? Is it smooth? Does it need motion processing such as blur and judder reduction?
Using the variety of sources listed above, we'll also test a TV's upscaling abilities on lower-resolution sources to see if it can create a clearer image of SDR movies and TV shows. This is especially important on larger screens as it has to work harder to reproduce the low-res image across a larger surface.
We'll also test gaming and see if it has the features we're looking for such as 120Hz, VRR, ALLM and a gaming mode to tailor the gaming experience to its most optimum. These features aren't strictly necessary, but the more gaming features it has, the better. We'll also test overall gaming performance and graphics.
After testing audio quality, checking out design and so on, we'll move onto our objective tests. This is where we use specialized equipment - a test pattern generator, colorimeter, the Leo Bodnar 4K HDMI input lag tester and Portrait Displays' Calman calibration software - to measure brightness, accuracy, color gamut and input lag on each TV.
To test for brightness, we use the colorimeter to measure the TVs brightness across different sized white window patterns generated by the test pattern generator including sizes such as 2%, 10% and 100%. A 10% window will give us the most realistic idea of peak brightness and how effectively the TV will display HDR highlight, whereas 100% (full screen) will tell us how a TV handles reflections and sustained bright images across the whole screen. We then use Calman to record the results.
Color accuracy and color gamut coverage, in both SDR and HDR, tell us how accurately a TV displays a source's colors on screen and how much of the color gamut it can cover. We also test grayscale, to see how effective a TV is with darker, grayer tones.
While we always aim for consistency across our testing, some of our reviewers do have different setups and environments. However, we will always use the same level of equipment and follow the same testing criteria and guidelines.
Latest updates to the best Samsung TVs
September 20, 2024
Swapped the Samsung QN90C for the Samsung QN90D, a 2024 model with improved brightness and picture processing.
July 23, 2024
Swapped the Q80C for the Q80D in 'best-mid range'. Swapped the QN900C for the QN900D and changed category from 'best mini-LED' to 'best 8K'. Introduced QN800D as 'best cheaper 8K'. Swapped the QN85C for the QN85D as 'best affordable mini-LED'.
March 14, 2024
Changed best budget from Samsung BU8500 to Samsung CU8000 due to stock. Expanded how we test section for more detail on testing process.
December 18, 2023
Updated guide format to have new quick menu and lead image, as well as added in the Samsung Q80C as best mid-range.
