Samsung TVs provide performance suitable for most buyers, but they can also be costly compared to some competing brands. They generally perform very well and are among the best TVs on the market, especially if you want gaming features. However, competition is increasing, and Samsung LED TVs don't seem to provide as much value as they previously did. They recently entered the OLED market and released their own QD-OLED TVs to compete with high-end LG OLED models.
2024 Samsung Lineup
Samsung announced their new 2024 lineup at CES in early January. We don't have the full details of their entire lineup yet, as Samsung's announcement focused on their new OLED and 8k models, with very few details on the rest of their lineup, but we'll update these sections below as new information comes out.Samsung typically releases their first new TVs in early March, with budget models following later in the year.
OLED
Samsung announced three new OLED models at CES: the Samsung S95D, S90D, and S85D. The flagship S95D features a new matte anti-reflective coating designed to improve reflection handling significantly. It works surprisingly well at reducing glare from bright lights, but the end result is a bit polarizing, as some people have mentioned that the matte coating gives it a flat, duller look compared to glossy models. It's worth pointing out that this extra coating is added by Samsung Electronics, not the panel manufacturer Samsung Display, so don't expect to see this matte coating on QD-OLEDs from other TV brands.
There's also a new entry-level model, the Samsung S85D, available in 55, 65, and 77-inch models. The mid-range Samsung S90D is also available in new 42- and 48-inch sizes. It's likely that those new sizes and the cheaper S85D use WOLED panels from LG, but we don't know for sure yet.
8k LED
Samsung is one of the only TV manufacturers still pushing 8k TVs, and they announced two new models this year: the Samsung QN900D and the Samsung QN800D. The QN900D is powered by Samsung's new QN8 AI Gen3 processor, which Samsung claims to be twice as fast as the picture processor in the Samsung QN900C 8k QLED. This, in turn, powers Samsung's new AI Upscaling Pro and AI Motion Enhancer Pro features, which they advertise to improve upscaling quality significantly and deliver better motion handling when watching sports. Samsung confirmed to us that this new processor will only be available on the QN900D. We've also seen reports of an entry-level 8k QN700D, but it has yet to be confirmed or announced by Samsung.
4k LED
We don't know much about Samsung's new 4k lineup, but at least three new Mini LED models have been confirmed—the QN95D, QN90D, and QN85D. Samsung hasn't said much about them, but these models are expected to have marginal improvements over the 2023 models, but nothing groundbreaking. Samsung has also confirmed the existence of at least two new entry-level 4k TVs in their Crystal UHD lineup, the DU6900 and the DU7000. We don't expect those two models to have anything new this year; they'll likely be nearly identical to the 2023 models.
MicroLED
Samsung has been talking about its MicroLED technology, available in a product known as "The Wall," for a few years now. But we have yet to see wide commercial availability of the product. It seems like that might finally be changed. Samsung has made some significant changes to the manufacturing process, allowing them to decrease production time on each MicroLED cell significantly. They've also developed new panel matching techniques that significantly improve uniformity, and of the multiple MicroLED technologies we saw at CES 2024, Samsung's The Wall looked the best. We don't know yet when you'll be able to walk into your local big box store and pick up a 77-inch The Wall, but from what we've seen, it's coming sooner rather than later, but it won't be cheap.
Transparent MicroLED
Like the LG Signature OLED T, Samsung also announced their own transparent TV technology. Unlike LG, Samsung's version uses MicroLED technology, so they can configure it to almost any size or shape needed.
Samsung is definitely looking at this technology more for its potential commercial applications than for residential use. One potential application they showed off was an overlay on a window in a sports venue. They could show an overlay on the window to display players' names, the score, time remaining, etc. If a flag is thrown or play stops, additional information or even instant replays could be shown directly on the screen without significantly blocking your view of the playing field.
Product Naming
Samsung's lineup covers everything from budget to high-end models. As a rule of thumb, the higher the number, the better it is, although sometimes the improvements aren't worth it. Samsung releases four main TV lineups, and they use a consistent naming scheme for the top three lineups that make it very easy to understand what you're buying simply by looking at the model number.
Samsung uses the prefix 'Q' to denote their midrange QLED models, and the last letter of these models also reflects the model year. They introduced the Mini LED lineup in 2021, denoted by the prefix 'QN' in the model name, like the Samsung QN90D. Their entry-level non-QLED models follow a slightly different naming structure; the prefix letters denote the year. For example, the AU8000 is the 2021 entry-level model, and 2024 models follow the DU*000 naming scheme.
