I tried Samsung's Vision AI – your summer of sport will never look better

As manufacturers endeavour to make the best TVs even better year on year, we've seen superb technological advances from Samsung, including the second-gen QD-OLED panel in its top-tier 4K set, the 5-star S95F, which goes super-bright.

But Samsung isn't just relying on panel tech. Far from it: its 2025 range of TVs, including investment in the best 8K TVs where no other maker can compete, has a brand new Vision AI feature.

Yes, artificial intelligence is the on-trend buzzword everywhere at the moment, but in Samsung's Vision AI it can leverage various TV processor and panel benefits at the click of a button.

Vision AI's real benefit, from the demos I saw at a private Samsung 'The Home of Vision' event last month, however, is going to make 2025's summer of sport look better than it ever has before. Here's why:

How does Samsung Vision AI work?

For many years, TV makers have introduced myriad picture modes to try and improve what you watch – and in a variety of ways. These are often fairly crude, however, with no nuance between various content types or sources.

Vision AI, on the other hand, is 'trained', if you like, able to distinguish between what you're watching – and the best way in which to enhance that for the better. It'll identify a football match from a moody drama, for example, and tweak the picture accordingly.

Best of all, it's achieved at the click of a button. Samsung's 2025 TVs feature an included remote control with a dedicated button at the top and centre, or you can select from the quick menu (as per the image above).

Once Vision AI is toggled on, it takes control – you can't change any other picture settings – and will enhance contrast and brightness, colour and saturation, frame-rate and smoothness, upscaling and sharpness, even the sound quality. It's activated in an instant – and the results are obvious.

Now, I'm not saying you'll want to apply Vision AI to everything or all of the time – but you don't have to, as it can be deactivated at the click of a button. Personally, I still find its adjustment of movies to be too far from the original intent (although automatic source detection can activate Filmmaker Mode if you prefer).

For sports, though? Vision AI is a total game-changer (pun intended), especially in providing motion-smoothing and brightness enhancements to make events easier to follow. I did before-and-after tests for football and tennis and the results were night and day.

So, why Vision AI?

I sat down with Alessandro Zearo, Samsung's Senior European TV Product Manager, at the The Home of Vision event, to get an overview of what Vision AI means for the brand and, of course, its customers.

"At Samsung, we don’t sell just a panel, we're selling you the overall experience. First of all, a TV is to entertain you, right? We don't want it to be overcomplicated.

"It’s like a centre of entertainment; you want to have the best home cinema experience, or you want to watch your favourite team win – and with the best picture quality possible.

"A TV which is helping you immerse into the action, into the movie, into the game that you're watching [or playing]. At the same time, it’s also a screen that we want to adapt to your needs, so a screen that is reactive to the environment where it's placed – for example, if it's a brighter room, then it adjusts automatically.

"And that is enhanced by Vision AI – and I think we are very strong in our value proposition, because not only do we have all the technologies available in the market, we have a wide portfolio of products too – from 83-inch S95F, all the way down to 42-inch.

"The panel technologies' [developments] are speeding up – as in newer generations of LED. Our new QLED is getting even more advanced with Quantum Matrix. Even year over year we’re getting even more advanced in the way we can precisely control all the lights in our backlight."

Which Samsung TVs feature Vision AI?

As I said up top, Samsung Vision AI was a new feature for its 2025 TVs. There's a lot of choice in the range, though, depending on what you're looking for. Here's a breakdown:

• 8K: Samsung Q990F (top-end); Q900F (step down)
• 4K OLED: Samsung S95F (top-end), S90F, S85F
• 4K QLED: Samsung QN90F, QN80F, QN70F, Q8F
• 4K Design: Samsung The Frame Pro, Samsung The Frame

Most people are going to forego 8K resolution because, while Vision AI can upscale to match it, not much native content exists. Therefore 4K is the sweetspot for picture perfection right now.

The choice of technology is roughly two-fold: OLED is a self-emissive technology, meaning it can create perfect contrast, with no light bleed around subjects; QLED, meanwhile, relies on a backlight – but this can be refined to different degrees, with Mini-LED, for example, more accurate – and may be the brighter solution, but it's a little less accurate.

Samsung's top-tier model for me, therefore, is the S95F. The S90F and S85F are step-down versions of this, with design adjustments and lower brightness levels, accordingly.

In the QLED range, which also houses Samsung's 'design' models, there's the new The Frame Pro at the top of the stack, with the most accurate Mini-LED backlight. The QN90F is the model below this and, as you step down through the ranks, the backlight precision and overall brightness potential dips.

It's also worth paying attention to Samsung's Glare Free technology, available in its premier tellies, which does an incredible job of negating light reflections. The step-down technology is Anti Glare, which is the previous generation version, and still impressive – but it can affect the picture performance a little.

So there you have it: a wide range of TVs, from 8K down to 4K in OLED or Mini-LED, each with their price to performance positives and target customer applications.

They all feature Vision AI, though, so at the touch of a button any of these sets can transform what you see for the better. I think it'll make a summer of sports that bit more special to view at home.