Samsung S90H review: An excellent true OLED TV

Samsung has previously been criticised for its decision to use a mixture of Quantum Dot OLED (QD-OLED, for short) and WRGB OLED (which we'll call 'classic OLED') panels at different screen sizes of its S90 ranges over the years.

While this approach did give QD-OLED fans a way of getting certain screen sizes – usually just the 65-inch model in the UK – for less money than they’d need for Samsung’s premium S95 series, it also never felt right that consumers couldn’t necessarily know exactly what sort of technology they might be getting.

For 2026, Samsung has finally ratified its S90H OLED range, making each screen size only available with a classic OLED panel. While the previous model – in like-for-like 65-inches, as tested – was a QD-OLED set, that makes for an interesting comparison. How well does the S90H holds up against both last year's predecessor and the best of the rest the OLED world has to offer?

Price & Availability

The S90H series is set to go on sale by the end of April, with the 65-inch model priced out of the gate at £2,699 ($TBC in the USA and other territories).

That price works out to be a substantial £800 cheaper than the launch price of the 65-inch model from Samsung’s new flagship S99H QD-OLED range.

The S90H will be available in 42-, 48-, 55-, 65-, 77- and 83-inch screen sizes – so there's something for everyone here, too, and the consistency of panel technology across the board (noting: the 42- and 48-inch models are less bright).

S90H vs S90F: What’s new?

I’ve already covered the single most important difference between 2026’s S90H and 2025’s S90F ranges: the shift to classic OLED panels rather than mixing and matching some sizes with that technology and others with QD-OLED. There are a few other differences worth highlighting, though.

For starters, the S90H’s so-called ‘HDR+’ panel specification refers to the latest version of the mid-range ‘EX’ OLED panels doing the rounds this year. These don’t feature the Primary RGB Tandem technology found in this year’s high-end G6 OLED TVs being sold by arch rival LG, but it is in line with the 65-inch model of LG’s mid-range OLED C6 series. The new EX panels claim to be slightly brighter than their predecessors.

Samsung’s latest NQ4 AI Gen 3 processor delivers a few claimed improvements via its 128 neural networks, too. These include improved contrast optimisation; better 4K upscaling with more detail, texture, edge enhancement and noise reduction; and AI-enhanced motion processing, capable of recognising not just when sport is being watched, but what type of sport is being watched, adjusting the algorithm it uses to track and even predict the sort of movement that a particular sport is likely to present.

A new AI Sound Controller Pro feature can now separate sound into three categories – Voice, Music and Effect – with you able to control the relative balance of each category. This feature has been integrated into the S90H’s Bixby voice recognition and control system, too.

Gamers will be pleased to hear that the S90H increases refresh rates to 165Hz (up from the S90F’s 144Hz), with variable refresh rates (VRR) supported across the whole new refresh rate range. The VRR support now officially includes the Nvidia G-Sync format, too, while the previous AMD FreeSync support has been enhanced to FreeSync Premium Pro (ignoring the 42- and 48-inch screen sizes).

The S90H range introduces support for the new HDR10+ Advanced format for the first time, too. This adds six new elements to the previous HDR10+ format: consistently brighter HDR10+ images, genre-based image optimisation, intelligent motion smoothing powered by flags set by content creators, better cloud gaming adaptation, more specific and detailed local tone-mapping, and enhanced content-led colour controls.

Samsung has added a new Vision AI Companion button to the S90H’s smart remote control that takes you to a new AI-specific home screen, from where you can access various AI-related features. It includes access to not one but two full AI systems from which you can select: Co-Pilot and Perplexity.

One final significant change the S90H range rings in is the Glare Free screen filters. These add a matte finish to the screen that removes practically all reflections, leaving you free to remain immersed in what you’re watching even in a bright environment. This filter system can reduce black level depths slightly during dark scenes if your room is really intensely bright, but for me the pros of the filter comfortably outweigh the cons.

Design and Connections

The S90H joins its S90F predecessor in sporting an ultra-thin screen attached to a chunkier mid-section, with an also slender and minimal amount of frame running around the image’s edge.

Build quality feels pretty solid and secure despite the extreme slimness of so much of the TV’s rear, and the two supporting feet included in the box are set quite close together, enabling the screen to be placed on even narrow cabinets or tables.

The feet look a bit plasticky in their ‘undressed’ state – which is why Samsung includes in the box a silver plate that simply clips across the top of the two feet to create the appearance of a more premium pedestal stand design.

The slimness of the screen gives the TV a really futuristic feel. You’d think, too, that it would also make the S90H an ideal wall mount option. Actually, though, the central rear section where the TV places its speakers, connections, processors and panel drivers sticks out far enough to leave a rather awkward gap between the screen and your wall at the screen’s edges.

The S90H’s connectivity is excellent. In particular it boasts four HDMI ports, all of which can handle the full array of HDMI 2.1 gaming features. Including frame rates up to 165Hz, HDR, auto low latency mode (ALLM) switching, and variable refresh rates (VRR) including, as mentioned earlier, the AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and Nvidia G-Sync formats.

The four HDMIs are joined by two USB ports, an optical digital audio output, and the now expected Wi-Fi (including Apple Airplay 2) and Bluetooth wireless options.

Picture Quality

Because I ultimately ended up really liking the S90H’s pictures, I want to get the bad news, such as it is, out of the way first. Which is that, at least initially, I missed the extra colour punch delivered by the QD-OLED panel inside last year’s S90F.

This subjective feeling is backed up by measurements using Portrait Displays’ Calman Ultimate software, G1 signal generator and C6 HDR5000 colourimeter, which show the S90H covering in Filmmaker Mode just under 99% of the DCI-P3 colour range typically used for current HDR grading, while the S90F covered more than 127%.

Of course, though, when it comes down to it, most content won’t use more than 100% of the DCI -P3 colour spectrum that the S90H pretty much fully covers – and when it comes to that other key metric of HDR picture performance – brightness – the S90H actually outguns even its QD-OLED predecessor, hitting peaks of 2450 nits in Standard mode (the S90F only got up to around 2000 nits).

The brightness improvement in Filmmaker Mode is much smaller, but the fact remains that the S90H delivers obvious picture progress in at least one key area, despite losing Quantum Dots.

What this all means in practice is that while the S90H’s Standard preset doesn’t look quite as vibrant or boldly saturated as that of the last year’s S95F, in most other ways the set actually performs better. Especially in the Filmmaker Mode, designed to cater for serious home cinema fans.

In this preset pictures look – after a small tweak or two, anyway – absolutely lovely for a mid-range OLED TV. Full of subtlety, beautifully balanced, detailed and sharp, without looking grainy or harsh. They're packed with authentic colours and the sort of contrast and colour tone finesse that can only come from a TV that’s combining OLED’s self-emissive panel technology with some powerful and intelligent processing.

The Filmmaker Mode is substantially less bright than the set’s light room-friendly Standard mode – but it’s not supposed to be. Filmmaker Mode is supposed to track the brightness, contrast and colour levels used in today’s mastering suites, and that’s exactly what the S90H’s Filmmaker Mode does.

In fact, the extent to which the S90H is prepared to rein in its screen’s capabilities to deliver the accuracy AV enthusiasts love is really quite bold – so it’s great that it that achieves such excellently immersive pictures devoid of distracting picture issues and inconsistencies.

The only change I felt compelled to make to the Filmmaker Mode settings was to turn a provided Shadow Detail Enhancer feature all the way up to its highest setting in order to combat an out-of-the-box tendency to lose subtle shadow details into the image’s darkest corners.

Having done the business for home cinephiles fantastically well for a mid-range TV, happily the S90H amps up the spectacle and drama of its pictures if you switch to its Standard mode.

Brightness jumps up by almost 50%, at least with peak bright HDR image areas such as street lights, sunlight reflection on metal or glass, direct shots of the sun and so on. Both native 4K and upscaled HD images look sharper and more densely detailed without that sharpness looking gritty or artificial.

Also, since the S90H’s OLED screen is able to deliver all of its extra Standard mode brightness without damaging the beautifully deep, neutral black levels that we always hope to see with an OLED TV, the Standard mode’s contrast is spectacular by mid-range OLED TV standards.

I did miss a little of the colour range available from QD-OLED technology in the S90H’s Standard mode. Some shades – especially reds, oranges and skin tones during warmly mastered dark movie scenes – can take on either a slightly salmony or overwrought tone. Something about the way the Standard mode pushes brightness can also exaggerate grain with relatively grainy HDR titles like It Chapter One and the non-IMAX sequences of the Juke Joint in the latter half of Sinners.

You should also rein in the S90H’s motion processing to help its pictures look more natural with 24p movie sources, choosing a Custom Mode for the Picture Clarity option menu and then turning off noise reduction and setting judder and blur reduction elements to their three or four levels.

The S90H’s new anti-glare screen filter also means that the image isn’t impacted at all by obvious on-screen reflections, even in bright room settings with an intense source like a wall light sitting directly opposite the screen. Not having to always darken your room or try to squint past onscreen reflections, no matter what room conditions you’re watching in, never gets old. Even though the very brightest ambient settings can slightly grey the screen’s otherwise inky black levels.

The crispness, brightness and bold contrast of the S90H’s pictures make it an excellent gaming monitor, too. Especially as its ability to support frame rates all the way up to 165Hz is joined by a fantastically low input lag measurement in its Game mode of just 9.1ms.

Sound Quality

It’s hard to imagine that any TV as slim across most of its body as the S90H could possibly produce any audio worthy of the name. Actually, though, after an uninspiring start, the S90H sounds pretty good.

The uninspiring bit occurs if you leave the screen’s audio in its default Standard setting. In this mode, while the sound is smooth and controlled, it also feels a little flat, undynamic and locked inside the TV’s bodywork. Fortunately, things kick up a number of gears if you turn on the TV’s Amplify mode.

This immediately opens up the volume and dynamic range, creating a more movie-appropriate sense of scale and power. You suddenly start to notice the effectiveness of Samsung’s object tracking sound (OTS) feature too, as it both places extra-diegetic sounds such as musical scores and some ambient effects beyond the screen’s edges, and places specific effects in the right area on the screen with often startling accuracy.

The only exception to this is that while voices sound like they’re coming from the right position on the left-to-right axis, they can sometimes seem to be coming from below the screen rather than at the right height.

Trebles are delivered without typically slipping into harshness, contributing to a nicely detailed, crisp soundstage that makes film and TV show worlds feel busy and involving.

The soundstage retains its composure well even under pressure from a dense, expanding action or horror sequence, and while there’s a marked limit to how deep the TV’s bass can go, at least what bass there is sounds punchy, well-timed and consistently present without becoming overly dominant.

The very deepest, densest bass rumbles and swells can cause the S90H’s speakers to finally succumb to some slight buzzing interference, dropouts and whooping noise. But most rival mid-range TVs tend to succumb to similar issues with such content more easily than the Samsung’s new mid-ranger does.

Samsung S90H review: Verdict

Yes, the S90H does away with the QD-OLED panel technology of its predecessor – but if you want that, look to the top-end S99H instead. Once I'd moved past that, the S90H swiftly set about proving that it can still deliver the goods with a classic OLED panel – making it an ideal anti-glare competitor to LG's OLED C6.

The S90H's contrast is gorgeous, sharpness is extreme without looking forced, brightness is intensely HDR-friendly by OLED standards, and the addition of that anti-glare filter makes disruption from reflections a thing of the past.

The Filmmaker Mode, in particular, is consistently an ultra-immersive joy, while the Standard preset ultimately rises above the occasional rogue colour tone and spot of elevated noise to deliver plenty of the spectacle that Samsung TVs are so renowned for.

Also Consider

The S90H’s closest and most direct competition will come from LG’s imminent C6 OLED series. This is especially true at the 77-inch and 83-inch screen sizes, where LG has introduced brightness and colour-enhancing Primary RGB Tandem technology to the C series for the first time.

If you don’t mind buying an OLED TV that launched last year, Philips’ OLED 910 can currently be had for a great price. Despite carrying a 'last-gen' Primary RGB Tandem screen, it still looks superb – especially in tandem with Philips’ unique Ambilight design technology.