Review: Samsung S95F QD-OLED TV

As a Samsung phone user of more than a decade, I still mostly hate using Samsung TVs. The stupid interface is annoying and hard to navigate, the apps are not that great, and I often stumble into some random section or other when I’m looking for something basic, like an input button, on the remote.

The screen on Samsung’s flagship S95F QD-OLED is so utterly gorgeous that none of this matters. Gorgeous black levels, insane colors, and a truly cinematic matte screen make this TV the prettiest I have ever laid eyes on for an extended period. If you’re at the poshest end of posh when it comes to home theaters, this is the model for you. Just plug in an Apple TV 4K or Roku Ultra.

“Infinity One”

Photograph: Parker Hall

I am not sure what this means, but it’s what Samsung calls the design language of its latest flagship screen, offering us a hyper-thin display that can mount flush to the wall, thanks to a big all-in-one cable that can deliver power, picture, and sound to and from the display and to Samsung’s One Connect Box. This box plugs into the wall and can be placed somewhere more aesthetic than below your TV, for folks who like to hide away all the cables, and it allows easy access to peripherals like four HDMI ports, a cable or antenna connection, a network cable connection, and a USB port for powering streaming devices.

It’s a nice little setup that takes away the stress of tiptoeing behind the TV to plug and unplug stuff, but it does mean you’ll have to find a place to put it, which could be a downside for minimalist living rooms. For my review unit, I just put the thing on a coffee table in front of the TV; not super pretty, but extremely functional. If I were keeping this TV long-term? I'd probably put it down near my 4K Blu-ray player.

The included remote is small and not backlit, but it is solar- and radio-powered, which means that you’ll never have to struggle through the junk drawer for a pair of AAA batteries when you’re in the middle of a binge-watching session. I’d still love a backlight for the remote, though, because this TV is so incredible in dark spaces (more on this later).

Interface-wise, it’s the same annoying maze that I've been battling from Samsung for years. There are too many ads, and it feels clunky and old. The good news is that AirPlay 2 and Samsung Smart View come standard, so it’s at least easy to get your phone’s content onscreen. Onboard apps are fine and do stream well, but I prefer the speed of outboard streaming devices like the aforementioned Apple TV 4K and Roku Ultra for streaming on a TV this nice.

There are a lot of settings initially dictated by the TV’s AI, which is fine for most people—it properly selects viewing modes based on content, as far as I could tell switching between stuff. I expect if you’re discerning enough to buy a flagship, $5,000 MSRP TV like this, you probably want to turn that stuff off (easily achieved in the settings menu) and stick it in Filmmaker Mode as soon as possible, which is how I did the vast majority of my viewing.

Screening

Photograph: Parker Hall

This TV looks the closest to a high-end cinema screen that I have ever experienced at home, and a lot of that comes down to the new matte display. The matte finish on the front of the S95F makes it have the color saturation (and lack of reflections) of a very high-end projection screen, but without the same problems with black levels. Because this is a QD-OLED, every pixel acts as its own backlight, which means that the darkest scenes are truly dark, rather than just showing off dimmed pixels. It also means that you get utterly insane contrast to the quantum-dot-infused colors that come out of this screen.

Deep reds and blacks like in my 4K Blu-ray copy of Hellboy have never looked so gorgeous, and with a peak brightness of 2,250 nits, the same can be said for the arid desert scenes in Mad Max: Fury Road. I found myself mesmerized by the reddish brown grains of sand as they brushed across the desert in front of an assortment of cannibalized vehicles on one rampage or another.

Sports and gaming performance are equally excellent. The 120- Hz refresh rate of the S95F was more than enough to keep up with even quick-paced racing games like F1 2024 and Assetto Corsa Competizione, two games that deeply benefit from high frame rates. The green of the—ahem—turf home field of my beloved Portland Timbers and Thorns has never looked so lush, even though it's likely the source of many of my favorite MLS and WSL teams’ rampant knee injuries.

This TV takes everything that you view to new heights, and at sizes ranging from 55 to 83 inches, it is one of few options on the market that really can fill your wall with the highest possible contemporary picture quality.

The real question most folks will be asking is: Is this TV better than the also-amazing LG G5 OLED or Sony Bravia 8 II? For me, that depends. The LG might not be as bright and doesn't have a matte display, but it does have a solid interface, and I am still smitten with the point-and-shoot magic remote that comes with it, even if it does run on batteries instead of the sun. That said, if money were no object, I'd have the Samsung. There is something raw and wonderful about this model that fully transcends its interface, and the matte display paired with the QD-OLED technology is simply a genius production choice. Besides, if you have $5,000 sitting around to buy a flagship TV, you can probably spare a hundred bucks for a Roku Ultra or Apple TV 4K anyway.