Samsung QN85F vs Samsung OLED S90F (QD-OLED)

Although more than twice the number of dimming zones compared to its predecessor did not result in a spectacular leap in black levels and contrast, we definitely felt it in the HDR effect itself. The QN85F is up to 50% brighter than last year's model and it makes a huge impression in dynamic scenes. Peak brightness can reach almost 1700–1800 nits, which is an impressively high result for this Mini-LED class. The best part is that almost regardless of the scene being watched, the HDR effect remains strong and vibrant. In four out of five test scenes, brightness was maintained around 1000 nits, a level that in most cases allows the viewer to feel the true magic of this format. Of course, in scene number 4 from the film Sicario 2, the limitations of Mini-LED technology become apparent – the brightness of the helicopter's subtle light drops to around 500 nits. This isn't an outstanding result, but it is still much more acceptable than last year's model. Samsung deserves applause for the dramatic improvement in brightness with the QN85F compared to its predecessor. However, there's a certain trend visible in this year's televisions – the manufacturer has worsened colour gamut coverage. Although the QN85F has a QLED panel, its result at around 90% DCI-P3 is average, and in the most demanding films, it may lead to less vibrant colours than its predecessor. Despite this drawback, the overall HDR effect is at an excellent level and truly makes a big impression in this class of devices.

The biggest difference between the 65-inch S90F and the other versions is brightness. The QD-OLED panel can reach up to 1700 nits in laboratory tests, which is over 500 nits more than the version with a WOLED matrix. This translates to a significantly stronger and more immersive HDR effect. In most scenes, the bright parts of the image look stunning, and we must admit that we were positively surprised, as we expected results closer to the WOLED version, but what we got is an effect that impresses even in films. As with every OLED, there are moments when the panel must reduce brightness a bit. This mainly concerns full-screen, very demanding scenes – for instance, in the last test scene from the movie “The Meg,” brightness drops to around 800 nits. However, it's hard to consider this a flaw because it's still an excellent result, unprecedented in OLED TVs in this price range. Everything suggests that the 65-inch S90F could be one of the best choices this year for those looking for a strong OLED at a reasonable price. Another advantage of the QD-OLED matrix in HDR content is its colour gamut coverage. Thanks to quantum dots, the television achieves nearly 100% of the DCI-P3 gamut and almost 90% of the BT.2020 gamut. These are values that place it alongside much more expensive models and make it exceptional in its class.

Samsung QN85F offers several preset picture modes, but out of the box, the television starts in 'Eco' mode. We could almost end the discussion here, as using this setting on such a model makes little sense – the picture is washed out, unpleasant, and far from what we expect from a television of this class. Therefore, we conducted our tests in the best available mode, which is Filmmaker mode. Its purpose is to faithfully reproduce what the directors saw during filming, and indeed, it is the setting that performs best among all factory options. However, this doesn't mean it's free from flaws.

Both in SDR and HDR, the QN85F prominently highlighted warm colours. This was due to a lack of white balance, where the blue colour was noticeably absent. Additionally, the image was sometimes overexposed – both the gamma brightness characteristic and the EOTF curve indicated that the television has a tendency to blow out scenes. In SDR, colour reproduction errors (Delta E around 4–5) were still acceptable, but in HDR, the inaccuracies became quite significant and clearly deviated from what the creators intended to show us. Fortunately, Samsung provides a wide range of calibration tools in its televisions, so – as always – we proceeded with professional calibration to see how much could be improved.

Samsung S90F, like most modern televisions, offers several picture modes, but in keeping with our tradition, we checked it in the most important one, which is Filmmaker. This setting makes the picture look much more natural than in the default, often oversaturated modes. It is neither overly vivid nor artificially dimmed – just closer to what you should actually see. However, this doesn’t mean it’s perfect. The S90F had noticeable shortcomings in white balance, particularly in the blue range, which created a slightly yellowish filter effect on most scenes. One might argue that it looks more “cinematic” because it’s warmer, but let’s not kid ourselves – George Lucas didn’t shoot Star Wars in sepia 😉 (you’ll find a comparison with a scene as always below). In HDR materials, there was also an issue with brightness management. The EOTF curve clearly showed that the television brightens the image more than it should, which led to some effects looking too intense and deviating from the reference. Fortunately, many of these flaws can be eliminated through professional calibration – we will discuss the effects of this procedure later in the test.

After calibrating the movie mode, we managed to tame the colours in both modes almost to perfection – most of them did not exceed an error value of 3, which is the threshold of perceivability by the human eye. The image became more natural, fuller, and at the same time free of the overexposure that was noticeable right after taking the television out of the box. This demonstrates the significant potential that lies within the QN85F and how well it responds to precise settings. However, this does not change the fact that certain technological barriers cannot be overcome. Despite the enormous benefits of calibration, there are still limitations to the panel itself. Although the number of dimming zones has doubled compared to its predecessor, the algorithms controlling the backlighting can manipulate brightness in their own way. Sometimes this leads to slight colour inaccuracies or subtly visible halo effects around bright objects. Nonetheless, the viewing experience after calibration is really enjoyable and shows how good a screen the QN85F can be if we just take a moment for the right settings.

Calibration quickly revealed that the S90F has a significant reserve of capabilities. The image in SDR immediately gained a natural quality – classic films no longer looked like someone was applying a yellowish filter, and the colours regained their proper character. It's a return to the atmosphere of the original, without the impression that someone tried to "age" it forcefully. In HDR content, the difference was even more pronounced. The EOTF curve was managed to nearly reference level, and any deviations are so subtle that most viewers wouldn't even notice them. In practice, the S90F shows an image very close to ideal post-calibration. Compared to the WOLED version, it even performs better – mainly due to a wider coverage of the colour palette, which makes the colours look fuller and more vibrant.

Although the native tonal transitions on the QN85F perform excellently with 4K content, we don't always have to deal with the highest resolution material. This is where how the TV handles upscaling and digital image processing becomes crucial. This process is managed by Samsung's proprietary processor – AI NQ4 Gen2. In practice, it works very effectively. If visible colour banding or other undesirable phenomena appear on the screen, for instance with content from YouTube, they can easily be smoothed out using the "noise reduction" feature. Set to medium, it improves tonal transitions while not overly blurring desired details. However, it should be noted that – like in most Samsung TVs – this feature heavily interferes with film grain. Therefore, during movie screenings, it’s wise to use it cautiously to avoid losing the natural character of the image.

The upscaling itself looks very good. Test materials in lower resolutions were displayed sharply and clearly, with a lot of details. The only drawback remains the issue with overscan, which cuts off the edges of the screen. In most situations, this isn't noticeable, but with very old materials below HD quality, there may be instances where a fragment of the image from the left side gets slightly cut off.

S90F performs really well here, although there are some points that are common across most Samsung TVs. The noise reduction feature can effectively smooth out unwanted colour transitions in lower-quality materials like television or YouTube, making them look simply better. However, it should be noted that it works quite aggressively and can also soften elements that we wouldn’t want to alter, such as facial details. Therefore, if we want to use it, it’s best to use it in the "medium" setting and be aware of the compromise it brings. The upscaling itself is of a high standard – low-quality materials are pulled towards an image resembling 4K. The only caveat is that the S90F can still have issues with so-called overscan, meaning slight trimming of the edges in very low-quality materials such as 576p and lower.

Motion blur and fluidity of movement in the QN85F is a topic worth discussing further because the TV is equipped not with a standard 120 Hz panel but with a 144 Hz one. The extra hertz will mainly be appreciated by PC gamers, but the very fact of having such an option can be seen as a nice addition and a sign of the times – it's hard to complain about the trend of faster panels since in practice, each of us would like the picture to be as smooth as possible. However, the most important thing is how the TV performs with typical 120 Hz refresh rates – in the case of consoles, sports, or films recorded at 24 or 30 frames per second. And here, the QN85F performs really well. In films, you can easily adjust the character of the picture thanks to the "image clarity" feature, where you'll find two control sliders. Key in the case of screenings is the one responsible for reducing motion judder. Lower values give the image a more cinematic character with preserved "frame-ness," while higher values lead to strong smoothing, reminiscent of television theatre.

S90F is an OLED with a refresh rate of 144 Hz, but in practice, what matters most is how it performs at 120 Hz, as this frequency is the most important when watching sports. The QD-OLED panel is no different in this regard from WOLED panels – the pixel response is nearly instantaneous, so motion is rendered with surgical precision. The effect is easy to predict. The image is practically free of motion blur, making gaming on consoles, matches, or other sports broadcasts a tremendous pleasure on the S90F.

Fans of movies and series have not been forgotten either. Like every Samsung television with a refresh rate of 120 Hz and above, the S90F is equipped with a proprietary motion smoother called “Picture Clarity.” Here, we find two sliders – blur reduction and judder reduction – which allow you to improve the smoothness of content recorded at 24 frames and tailor the effect to your own preferences.

Samsung QN85F makes a really great impression in terms of features for gamers. It has four HDMI 2.1 ports, so we can easily connect several devices at the same time. There's also Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) to prevent screen tearing, as well as Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), which allows the TV to automatically switch to the appropriate settings when we start the console. Additionally, it supports refresh rates of up to 144 Hz – something that PC gamers will particularly appreciate, but the very fact that such an option is available shows that Samsung is committed to full support for gamers. The Game Bar panel also deserves praise. It provides a quick overview of the most important parameters – from frame count to refresh rate mode, and even shortcuts to picture settings. Instead of digging through the entire menu, everything is at our fingertips, which proves to be really convenient in practice. However, the most interesting addition is the Game Motion Plus feature. It is nothing more than motion smoothing, adapted for the gaming world. When it’s turned on, the image becomes smoother, sometimes looking as if we’re getting several more frames, and importantly – the response delay doesn’t increase enough to interfere with gameplay. This is a solution that truly sets Samsung's 120Hz TVs apart from the competition.

[UPDATE] We have updated our tests of Samsung TVs from the 2025 model year due to the release of software version 1131, which restored the crucial gaming feature HGiG.

The only significant downside remains the lack of proper support for HGiG. This is a standard responsible for accurate tone mapping in HDR games, ensuring that brightness and contrast are displayed as intended by the creators. Without HGiG, we have to set brightness manually, which doesn’t always yield perfect results. This feature was available in previous models, but disappeared from the QN85F after one of the updates. We hope that Samsung will quickly fix this issue, and we will be monitoring to see if they succeed.

The S90F is a television that genuinely brings a lot of joy when gaming. To start with, we get four proper HDMI 2.1 ports, which means you can connect all consoles and PCs without having to figure out which device takes priority. This is a convenient and practical solution, which is not at all a given with other manufacturers. Additionally, there are key features such as: automatic game mode (ALLM), which automatically switches the screen to low latency settings, and VRR frame synchronization that operates over a wide range from 48 to 144 Hz. This ensures the picture remains smooth, whether we're playing fast-paced online shooters or more relaxed narrative titles. The Game Bar also deserves attention – a panel that allows quick access to several handy extras. For example, you can turn on an extra crosshair in the middle of the screen, enlarge the minimap, or, in the case of PC, change the aspect ratio. Finally, there's also Samsung's unique Game Motion Plus mode. Its task is to smooth out older or poorly optimized titles, and it actually works quite well. With this mode, even less polished games can look better and provide more enjoyment than on other televisions that theoretically offer the same technical parameters.