The best Samsung TVs: Expert tested

My choice for the best Samsung TV is the Q90D. This is one of the newest additions to the brand's TV line-up, and offers great picture quality as well as virtual 3D audio with Dolby Atmos and object tracking sound support. You can also push the refresh rate as high as 144Hz for gaming to get smoother action during fast-paced scenes.  

 *Lowest price at the time of writing. Please note that prices may vary based on retailer and available promotions, sales, or discounts.

Once you've hammered out a budget and made sure the new TV will fit in your space, the most crucial factor to consider when buying a new Samsung TV is how you will use it. Have you cut the cord and moved exclusively to streaming? Choose a model with a preloaded suite of popular apps and the ability to mirror your mobile device screens. Are you a console gamer? Samsung offers dedicated gaming modes for reducing input lag and response times and toggling VRR technology like FreeSync and G-Sync on or off.

While shopping for a Samsung TV, there are a few factors to keep in mind to help you stay on-budget and get the most value for your money:

• Price: Samsung has a wide range of televisions available, from basic and budget-friendly to premium-grade OLEDs. We've included a variety of Samsung TVs at different price points to fit different budgets.
• Picture and audio quality: While Samsung doesn't include support for Dolby Vision HDR on their televisions, they do offer Dolby Atmos for virtual surround sound or Dolby Digital for enhanced audio. Samsung also uses a proprietary HDR codec to enhance detailing, color, and contrast for images. Each TV featured on this list has been ensured to support at least basic HDR10 and Dolby Digital audio.
• Connectivity: A new TV, Samsung or not, isn't worth much if you can't do anything with it. Each product on this list has been tested and researched to ensure that they offer HDMI, USB, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth connectivity for setting up game consoles and playback devices as well as for screen sharing from mobile devices and downloading streaming apps.

While researching and testing each Samsung TV featured on this list, I and other ZDNET experts kept these criteria in mind:

• Reasons to upgrade: It seems like every year, TV brands release updated product lineups with gimmicky features to try and get you to upgrade your current screen. Each Samsung TV on this list was chosen because it offered enough new and unique features over the previous generation of products to warrant a possible upgrade. 
• Smart features: People have come to expect smart features like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity and virtual assistants as-standard in their new TVs. Each Samsung TV that was chosen offers a suite of features from hands-free voice controls to screen calibration and free TV channels. 
• Screen sizes: No two homes, and no two rooms within those homes, are exactly alike. It's important to get the right sized screen for your space to avoid making the room either feel like an endless void due to a too-small TV or cramped and uncomfortable from one that's too large. 

The best way to find the ideal TV size for your space is to measure the distance (in inches) from where your TV will be mounted on the wall or placed on a stand to where you will be sitting, and then divide that distance in half. So if your couch is 120 inches (10 feet) from where your new TV will be, the ideal screen size for your room would be around 60 inches. 

You can go a bit bigger or smaller depending on what sizes are available from each brand and what your budget allows. But there is such a thing as a TV that is too big or too small. A screen that is too large will overwhelm your space and could even cause motion sickness, while a screen that is entirely too small will make your room feel like a huge cavern and force everyone to crowd around in order to see. 

Short answer: Marketing.

Long answer: Unlike OLED, the term "QLED" is a marketing gimmick rather than an acronym for a specific piece of technology. A QLED television from Samsung or another brand like Hisense really just uses a regular LED panel to create an image while a fancy processing chip uses proprietary software to boost color, brightness, and contrast. The "Q" in QLED stands for "quantum," which is a marketing term to get you interested in the TV rather than an indication of actual quantum TV tech (whatever that would be). 

In contrast, an OLED television uses a special LED panel where each individual pixel is represented by a single LED bulb with its own power source. By allowing individual LED lights to be switched off completely, an OLED television is capable of true blacks that make brighter colors pop and enhance contrast. They also use an organic substrate which is activated by an electrical current to produce colors. This substrate is very expensive and difficult to produce, which is why OLED TVs are much more expensive than their LED and QLED counterparts.

If you aren't running your Samsung TV 24/7, you can reasonably expect it to last at least 5 years. You can extend the life of your Samsung TV by ensuring that the operating system and firmware are up to date via automatic updates. 

Unfortunately, the era of TVs lasting decades as long as there weren't any mechanical issues is long over. Because almost all new televisions are internet-enabled, there will eventually come a point where older TVs are no longer able to support new firmware updates or new versions of streaming apps. This means that you'll almost be forced to buy a new TV every 10 or so years if you've cut the cord and moved exclusively to streaming your content. The average TV lifespan will give you plenty of time to save up for when the time comes to upgrade.

Absolutely! Along with a variety of screen sizes available, new Samsung TVs like the QN90C and S95C include the Samsung Gaming Hub. The Hub gives you access to cloud gaming services like Nvidia GeForce NOW and Xbox Game Pass, as well as lowered input response times, support for VRR technology like AMD FreeSync, and enhanced contrast. You'll also get multiple HDMI inputs for connecting more than one console, as well as an RF connection for some retro consoles like the SNES.