First look: the exceptionally bright Samsung S95F

The Samsung S95F OLED TV: Many people already have feelings about it, but I’d suggest putting those aside until you’ve read this. Why? Because I’ve been to Samsung’s super secret facility on the East Coast (something we’ve been doing for the past four or five years) getting an early look at their flagship television.

You’re might already be familiar with the flagship 8K NeoQLED (QN900F) outfitted with some anti-glare technology and the flagship 4K NeoQLED TV (QN90F). Now we have the flagship OLED TV: the Samsung S95F.

Unlike the other two flagship TVs, the S95F happens to be a Quantum Dot OLED (also know as QD-OLED). So, along with the anti-glare and anti-reflection, there is also a panel that has a slight purplish tinge when a lot of light shines on the TV. People have feelings about this. Some would like to see something that represents truer black, at least in certain conditions. There is also some discussion around whether having an anti-glare or matte finish on the screen is a net benefit or net negative to those wanting the absolute best picture quality.

For now I want to focus on what this TV does exceptionally well … because there is a lot.

Super bright and sparkly

While Samsung is not talking about what panels are being used in its OLED TVs – partially because some use Quantum Dot OLED and some use WRGB OLED, depending on the series and TV size – the S95F appears to use the latest-generation Quantum Dot OLED panel manufactured by Samsung Display. As such, it is now the brightest Quantum Dot OLED panel that you can get.

Using our own measurements and those provided by Samsung, we were able to verify that it’s doing anywhere from 2,100 to 2,250 nits peak brightness in a white 10% window. What does that mean? It is conclusively one of the brightest OLED televisions that you can buy. While competitors are catching up, this TV does exceptionally well when it comes to very high and very pure color brightness – the highest and purest yet.

So, yes, expect very bright peak highlights with this TV. (We didn’t have time to measure it full-field white and test it while it was cool and hot. Look for this in the full review coming soon.)

Also, the highlights look exceptionally sparkly. Even just looking at the color tiles that we tested, the color purity and color brightness on this TV is immediately evident. It is one of the most bright and colorful televisions that you can buy today.

Out-of-the-box beauty

The S95F was exquisitely accurate in Filmaker Mode (which you can find in your Samsung TV settings). From the color accuracy to the EOTF HDR tracking to the grayscale measurements, it looks exceptionally good. Out-of-the-box, we got a delta E of 1.4 on average from the grayscale and color errors were well below two.

In Movie Mode, however, it tracks very high on the EOTF. That means it will raise the average brightness level higher than it should be. This is technically not accurate, but is very handy for viewing darker content in brighter environments – something that we all need from time to time. For example, if you’re watching Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon in anything other than a pitch-black room, you will see details in those dark scenes that you simply wouldn’t see in Filmmaker Mode.

Using the footage that we test so many TVs with, the S95F’s processing looked solid (again, we didn’t have much time to test this TV). Although I wasn’t able to test much upscaling, I watched some free ad-supported streaming TV – fast TV stuff – with a very low resolution and bitrate and it looked pretty good. Motion also seemed great, although I didn’t get the opportunity to watch any sports. (We’ll check into this more deeply in the full review.)

Improved interface

I’m really pleased to report that Samsung has made some notable improvements to part of the One UI interface, which is based on Tizen. If you use a Samsung Galaxy phone or tablet, you’re likely already familiar with it. The new Samsung TV interface is more closely linked with those experiences; for the average consumer it means that there are more controls to operate the TV as you want.

You can also change how the home screen operates, and that’s a big deal for me. In the settings, you can stop the TV from launching immediately into Channels Plus – that free ad-supported streaming TV stuff. (In the past, when I turned on a Samsung TV, it immediately blared content at me, whether I wanted it or not. Maybe I wanted to navigate to Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, or whatever and not have content blasted at me – like the old days when you turned on your TV and it was already on a channel. I enjoyed getting away from that.) Now, it’s possible to alter the TV’s settings so that it behaves how you want it to behave. Of course, if you like that kind of experience, it is available. The important thing is that it’s now an option.

Samsung has also loaded this TV with all kinds of AI features. (We will dig into what that means both in the full review and in a dedicated video about all of the AI stuff that Samsung is bringing to not just its TVs, but its entire electronics ecosystem – it is expansive and deserves its own explanation.) Suffice to say that there are all kinds of features, bells and whistles, and security measures. It’s an absolutely loaded TV – what you would expect from Samsung these days and one of the reasons why you might want to choose one of their sets.

Anti-glare and anti-reflection tech: Good or bad?

Now, there’s also the divisive topic of the anti-glare and anti-reflection treatment on this TV: Is it a net benefit or a net hurt?

This entirely depends on your use case scenario and preferences. I’ve been accused of being a fanboy of this technology, and it’s just not true. If I had a dark room and I was picking an OLED TV, I might not pick the S95F – I might want a glossier screen for example. However, I think that for a lot of folks who are not putting this TV in a dimly lit room, the anti-glare and anti-reflection technology will be a net benefit.

Before I explain why, a reminder: Sony has a competitive Quantum Dot OLED TV that does not have the anti-glare and anti-reflection technology. If you want a top-tier, high-performance Quantum Dot OLED TV, consider the new Sony Bravia 8 Mark II.

LG has the G5 OLED, which is built on a new kind of WRGB OLED technology called “four stack” or “Tandem OLED,” that is capable of extremely high brightness and extremely high-color brightness. If you want a glossy screen without the elevated black levels that come from the Quantum Dot OLED panel – which is typically not a major issue for most people – you have that option as well.

Samsung, however, is betting on reaching a mass market with this TV that maybe some of those other manufacturers are not. That’s a good bet because Samsung is still the number one selling TV brand in the United States. It’s moving more units than anyone else. Many people are just going to buy a premium Samsung TV because they know they can count on it to be a really great TV. They’re not doing a ton of research to find out what is the best OLED TV; they just want to get a really great TV that they can feel comfortable with. If they’re putting it in a living room with windows and light pouring in, the anti-glare and anti-reflection technology is probably going to be a net benefit for them.

Best TV of the year?

I and other press members have recently seen demonstrations by competing companies trying to “out” the anti-glare and the QD-OLED panel as having poor blacks under certain conditions. Those demonstrations were not exactly fair. The light was positioned much lower and much closer to the Quantum Dot OLED TV, meant to exacerbate the issue.

In an environment where there is some light going on, the screen looks very black. That’s because our eyes and brain can be very accommodating. You can actually accept a higher black floor as perfect black as you start to accommodate it. This is how the human visual system works. In a side-by-side comparison? You’ll see it easily. Is it something you’ll be cognizant of all the time in most scenarios? No. It’s pretty black.

I think that much hay is being made about this divisive anti-glare technology and the nature of the QD-OLED panel, and I understand why: folks who are extreme enthusiasts about these TVs really want to get exactly what they want. I understand if they want the flagship Samsung Quantum Dot OLED TV with a glossy screen. Unfortunately, if you want that glossy screen, you’re going to need to step down to the S90F. If you want the QD-OLED panel, stick to the 55-, 65-, or 75-inch variants that do indeed have the Quantum Dot OLED panel.

Looking at the TV market at large, having variety is extremely important. Samsung wanted to find a niche, and I think it definitely did. This choice may alienate some of us, but from Samsung’s business standpoint it’s probably a smart move. It’s probably going to sell a lot of these TVs because they look absolutely stellar – they’re going to look very good in showrooms where other TVs struggle to look as good unless they’re in their most excruciating Vivid or Dynamic picture modes.

By and large, the S95F is an absolutely excellent TV. Some questions remain and these can only be answered once I can do my thing and put it through its paces. Then we can look at some of the other touchpoints just to make sure that the TV is easy to use and user-friendly in general. Does it have any annoying quirks that we need to know about? I cannot wait to find out.

Meanwhile, the Samsung S95F is one to watch and will be in the running for the best TV of the year, no doubt about it.