Samsung's new OLED flagship has finally fixed my biggest issue with TVs

It was almost a year ago that I penned an opinion piece: Dear TVs, we have an HDMI problem that needs fixing.

Well, guess what? At CES 2026 – the world's largest technology show, which finished just this weekend – Samsung has effectively solved my biggest bugbear with modern TVs.

Introducing the Samsung S95H. It's the upgrade to last year's best OLED TV, the S95F, and on first pass the differences between the two seem to be fairly as expected.

In summary: the S95H's panel is able to eke out an additional 30% or more brightness than last year's model, as is the ongoing trend. It's also got a new metal chassis and access to Samsung's Art Store (a first for its OLED panels).

The S95H also, by default, ditches Samsung's Wireless One Connect Box, opting for its ports to be directly on the rear of the TV. That's good for low-latency connectivity, as you'll want from some of your connected kit.

But the S95H hasn't completely iced the Wireless One Connect Box, which in simple terms is a separate box of HDMI ports that communicates with the TV without the need for a wired connection.

No, you can purchase said box separately and, in effect, your fancy 2026 flagship TV will have not four, but eight HDMI 2.1 ports. That's a huge step – and that it's an optional purchase makes great sense, as only high-end A/V shoppers are likely to pine for this feature set.

Samsung is the first brand to solve this bothersome limitation in modern TVs. That puts it well ahead of many competitors, most of whom – LG being one of few exceptions (given that it makes its own boards) – offer two HDMI 2.1 and two HDMI 2.0 ports at the top-end level.

Personally I'd use an S95H with maybe six HDMI ports filled, leaving two spare for future-proofing – should other must-have kit come along that I'd want to plug in.

That means all my gaming consoles could go low-latency ported into the panel itself, while the minor uptick in millisecond delays could be absorbed by other kit, such as my EE/BT TV Box Pro or Apple TV 4K.

But over to the S95H as a contestant for one of 2026's best TVs for a minute. Given the class of its predecessor, what I saw at CES 2026 – in a behind-closed-doors private session from Samsung engineers – only doubled down on how good this TV is likely to be.

Extra brightness is a nicety, one that puts it on a level playing field against its biggest competition – such as LG's OLED G6 – but the picture quality was already of a calibre a step above most others. The S95H's images look stunning.

As does the set itself, with its new metal frame design. For this year, Samsung is also going all-in on its Art Store solution, with the H having access to 5000 works of art via subscription. It's the first OLED to do so, thanks to new anti-burn-in technology for this year.

All of which adds up to not only one of CES 2026's best-of-show products, but quite probably one of the best TVs we'll see this year. And not just because it's solved the HDMI conundrum.