S90HAT / S90HAE / S92HAT
Available screen sizes:
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Panel type: QD-OLED Refresh rate: 165Hz Brand: SAMSUNG Resolution: 3840x2160 System: Tizen Model year: 2026
The S90 series from Samsung is without doubt one of the most popular and important OLED TV lines on the market. Its success didn't come out of nowhere, as it largely brought QD-OLED technology to a wider audience by offering it at a much more affordable price than flagship models. Over time the situation got a bit complicated because under the same name we started seeing two completely different panels. In this review we take a close look at the S90H(AT) 77-inch model, because this variant is fitted with a QD-OLED panel made by Samsung Display. This year's new feature is a matte screen coating designed to significantly reduce reflections in sunlit living rooms. Will that be enough for the S90H to retain its status as a market bestseller? Let's find out!
This particular unit was supplied to us for testing by one of our viewers and readers. Many thanks!
8.6
Overall rating
Samsung, what on earth did you do? The S90H is a TV that won us over almost from the first minutes. If you're after a short answer to whether it's worth the money, we’ll be blunt: yes, absolutely. The combination of perfect, organic blacks with very high brightness and the vivid colours of a QD-OLED panel creates an effect that's hugely impressive from the first power-on. Choosing a matte finish proved to be a brilliant move. No more constant battles with the blinds or seeing your own reflection on a sunny day. Sure, purists like us will notice that in a room with strong sunlight the blacks can subtly shift towards grey-maroon tones, but the daytime viewing comfort here is hard to overstate. Most importantly, in the evening and at night the picture still delivers everything we love about OLEDs: perfect blacks, excellent contrast and incredible depth. Add to that a fast, polished Tizen system and a nearly complete suite of gaming features, led by Game Motion Plus. The result is an exceptionally complete TV where minor software niggles don't change the overall, very positive impression. Does the S90H have any major downside? It's hard to point to anything in the TV itself that would seriously detract from this model. The biggest concern is more about Samsung's policy. To this day it's difficult to understand why such a great QD-OLED panel is offered only in the 77-inch model we tested, the one with the HAT suffix in the name. That may change in future, but for now that's how things stand. So if you're specifically aiming for that variant, there's no need to think twice. The Samsung S90H 77-inch with a QD-OLED panel is one of the most exciting TVs of the year. Once the new-product premium fades and bigger discounts start to appear, it could become one of the best-value OLEDs on the market — and very likely one of the biggest bestsellers of 2026.
Perfect blacks and infinite contrast
Very high HDR brightness (reaching 1700 nits)
Excellent colour gamut coverage (QD-OLED)
Reference-grade image reproduction after professional calibration
Excellent motion handling (no motion blur)
Excellent for gamers (4x HDMI 2.1, VRR, ALLM, low input lag)
High panel refresh rate (up to 165 Hz)
Perfect viewing angles
Effective anti-reflective coating (matte)
Responsive Tizen system
Surprisingly good sound
In bright light, blacks can take on a cherry tint (a characteristic of QD-OLED panels)
The matte finish in strong light affects perceived colour saturation
Lacks TV features such as USB recording or PIP
No support for DTS:X (a problem for Blu-ray disc fans)
Why isn't this panel available in all sizes?!
Movies and series in UHD quality
9.0
Classic TV, YouTube
9.3
Sports broadcasts (TV and apps)
9.0
Gaming on console
9.7
TV as a computer monitor
8.6
Watching in bright light
6.4
Utility functions
7.3
Apps
9.3
Sound quality
8.4
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HDMI inputs: 0 x HDMI 2.0, 4 x HDMI 2.1 (48Gbps) Outputs: Toslink (Optical audio), eARC (HDMI), ARC (HDMI) Network Interfaces: Wi-Fi 2.4GHz, Wi-Fi 5GHz, Ethernet (LAN) 100Mbps, Ethernet (LAN) 1Gbit
Build quality: Premium
Stand type: Central
Bezel color: Graphite
Stand: Fixed
Flat design: No
Accessories: Stand
If you're expecting a revolution in the S90H's appearance, this isn't it. Samsung has delivered almost exactly the same design in this series for the fourth year running. But does that bother anyone? Not at all. It's still a slim, good-looking TV that feels like a premium product. As is typical for this line, the bezels around the screen are minimal and metal, and the panel itself is joined to a lower housing that contains the electronics. A distinctive feature of this particular variant is the lower edge of the panel, which lets you recognise it as a QD-OLED. If you look closely you'll notice a glued-on strip of film resulting directly from the panel's construction. In other sizes of this model, fitted with WOLED panels, that element does not appear.
Back to the TV's build. That OLED-style construction has its charm, because the screen profile at the top and sides is extremely thin, but it also has a downside. Due to the protruding rear with the components there's no chance of mounting the TV completely flush to the wall. And what if your living room requires placing it on an entertainment unit? Samsung traditionally includes a central stand with the set. Unfortunately that's probably the weakest point in terms of appearance. The design consists of two feet and a plastic cover, which look rather ordinary. It's not a serious flaw, of course, but it feels like the plastic stand simply doesn't match the rest of the gear. Other than that? It's a stunning-looking TV.
Select size:
10/10
Result
∞:1
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∞:1
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∞:1
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∞:1
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∞:1
Visibility of details in the lights:
Because the Samsung S90H uses an OLED panel, it earns the highest rating for contrast and black levels. Importantly, this applies both to the WOLED version and to the QD-OLED variant we tested. Each pixel emits its own light and can be switched off completely, so the TV delivers perfect black and virtually infinite contrast. That translates into excellent image depth and a very clear separation of bright elements from dark backgrounds, without the blooming that still appears even in the best LCD TVs. The effect is especially impressive when watching in a darkened room, where dark scenes look incredibly realistic and the picture gains a stronger sense of three-dimensionality and detail.
Halo effect and black detail visibility:
7.8/10
Supported formats: HDR10, HDR10+, HLG
Luminance measurements in HDR:
Result
1464 nit
Result
1470 nit
Result
1269 nit
Result
1505 nit
Result
902 nit
The Samsung S90H is a really bright TV for the mid-range among OLEDs. In synthetic measurements its peak brightness reached around 1650 nits. That's an outstanding result in this class, roughly 50% higher than what we’ve seen from previous models at this price point. Most importantly, these tests translate directly to real video material. In four out of the five film scenes we tested the S90H’s brightness hovered around 1300-1500 nits. That kind of headroom lets it reproduce most HDR films with very high impact and without obvious compromises, especially material mastered to 1000–1500 nits. In practice, highlights, reflections and explosions have the right punch and the picture doesn’t feel dimmed. Of course, on full-screen, very bright scenes the result is naturally lower and drops to about 900 nits. That’s a direct effect of the protection systems that keep the OLED panel from being overloaded. Even in that scenario there’s little to complain about. Nine hundred nits across the whole screen is still a very high level, guaranteeing excellent dynamics in HDR content. A huge advantage of QD-OLED TVs has always been the colours, and the S90H is no exception. The DCI-P3 colour space we measured reached a full 100% (actually 99.9%), while coverage of the much wider BT.2020 gamut hit about 89%. That’s a great result, allowing very saturated and vivid colours in HDR material. It’s worth emphasising that QD-OLED’s edge over WOLED panels isn’t just about gamut coverage. In practice it’s seen mostly in the higher brightness of saturated colours, in other words greater colour volume. That makes intense reds, greens and blues in HDR look juicier and more impressive.
BT.2020 color gamut coverage and primary color luminance
| Data set | BT.2020 [%] | P3 [%] | R [%] | G [%] | B [%] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Synthetic patterns | 88.8 | 99.9 | 69.8 | 78.2 | 84.8 |
| Film measurements | 88.9 | 99.9 | 70.2 | 78.0 | 84.1 |
Arithmetic means of BT.2020 and P3 gamut coverage and the luminance of the primary colors (red, green, blue) as a % of target.
Scene from the movie “Pan” (about 2800 nits)
Scene from the movie “Billy Lynn” (about 1100 nits)
So how do movies ultimately look on the S90H? You can safely say they look outstanding. Perfect colours combined with high brightness mean all kinds of explosions and specular highlights look exactly as they should. The picture has excellent dynamic range and is truly realistic. Watching movies or series on this TV is simply immersive. Whether we watched content in HDR1000 or HDR4000, everything looked as it should. If there's one flaw to pick on, some of the darkest shadow detail can be slightly lost. However, that's a detail the vast majority of users will be completely unaware of during normal viewing.
HDR luminance chart:
Although the S90H can hit high brightness and has very successful out-of-the-box tone mapping, in standard HDR10 it can sometimes lose fine detail in the brightest parts of the picture. That's not so much the TV's fault as the technical limits of HDR10, which relies on static metadata, so the algorithms have to compromise over the course of an entire film. It's a completely different story when you play material in HDR10+. Here the screen gets precise instructions for each scene, so the electronics don't have to "guess" and force the frame to adapt. In difficult, very brightly lit shots we suddenly recover details that might previously have been lost. Importantly, the myth that there's no HDR10+ content can be thrown in the bin. HDR10+ is no longer an exotic format from a few years ago. You can now find it on many popular streaming platforms and in an increasing number of films and series, so in practice we're no longer talking about a feature that exists only on paper.
And finally, the perennial topic: the lack of Dolby Vision. Samsung's decision sparks plenty of heated debate every year, but in practice, given the S90H's high performance, making a big issue of it doesn't make sense. Plain HDR10 looks great here, and in a showdown between HDR10+ and Dolby Vision the differences in most typical content will be small enough that the average viewer probably won't notice them. So with such good HDR10 and the presence of HDR10+, the lack of Dolby Vision is not, for us, a flaw that rules this TV out.
Static HDR10
Dynamic: HDR10+
8.3/10
The next stage of the test was to check how the S90H handles colour reproduction without any calibration. As always, we took measurements in Filmmaker Mode, the best factory picture setting. And here Samsung really deserves praise. The factory tuning is at a very high level, which wasn’t always the case a few years ago. The white balance was set correctly, as was the brightness response. The average colour reproduction error (Delta E) stayed around 3, which is below the level at which most viewers can notice inaccuracies. Only in the brightest shades of grey did the values slightly approach 4, but it’s still hard to call that a real problem during viewing. For out-of-the-box settings, the result is simply excellent.
9.4/10
All right, but you know we wouldn't be ourselves if we didn't also check how much we could get out of the S90H with professional calibration. And there was no big surprise. Since the out-of-the-box settings were already very good, there wasn't a huge margin for improvement. Even so, we managed to refine the image almost to perfection. After calibration the average colour reproduction errors fell below the threshold of perception, reaching Delta E values under 2 for both SDR and HDR material. We also improved the luminance response, so the picture more faithfully reflects the creators' intent and maintains correct tonality across the entire brightness range. After professional calibration the S90H therefore becomes a screen very close to reference. Will the difference be spectacular for everyone? Not necessarily. The factory settings already deliver a very high level, so in everyday viewing some people may not notice a huge jump. Much also depends on the specific unit. Our sample was very well tuned straight out of the box, but that doesn't mean every S90H will present the same level. Even identical models can differ in their factory calibration. That's exactly why professional calibration makes sense: it lets you bring a particular unit to the highest possible accuracy, rather than relying on a bit of luck when buying.
9/10
The smoothness of tonal transitions here is really high. In most content it's hard to spot any obvious posterisation, and when it does appear it's only in the most demanding scenes. That's also one of the traits we often see in well-tuned QD-OLED panels. In practice they can perform more favourably in terms of gradation than many classic WOLEDs, although much depends on the electronics and the specific model. So if you're after the smoothest possible gradients, the version tested with a QD-OLED panel has a clear advantage here.
7.5/10
Smooth transition function
Image without overscan on the SD signal
W tej kwestii Samsung praktycznie nic nie zmienił względem ubiegłorocznego modelu, co akurat jest dość dobrą wiadomością. Funkcja odpowiedzialna za wygładzanie przejść tonalnych nadal bardzo skutecznie ogranicza efekt posteryzacji. Trzeba jednak pamiętać, że działa dość agresywnie, bo oprócz samych artefaktów potrafi usunąć również ziarno filmowe i delikatnie zmiękczyć drobne detale obrazu. Jak zwykle jest to więc kwestia kompromisu i własnych preferencji. Jeśli zależy Wam na jak najwierniejszym odwzorowaniu materiału, polecamy pozostawić tę funkcję wyłączoną.
Również w kwestii upscalingu trudno mówić o rewolucji. S90H korzysta z tego samego autorskiego procesora obrazu NQ4 Gen3 co jego poprzednik, dlatego jakość skalowania pozostała praktycznie bez zmian. Telewizor dobrze radzi sobie z materiałami o niższej rozdzielczości, skutecznie poprawiając ich ostrość. Nadal jednak nie rozwiązano problemu z overscanem. W przypadku niektórych starszych materiałów, zwłaszcza archiwalnych nagrań, może zdarzyć się, że fragment obrazu przy krawędziach zostanie ucięty. To drobna wada, ale szkoda, że Samsung kolejny rok z rzędu pozostawił ten problem bez zmian.
8.5/10
Maximum refresh rate of the panel: 165Hz
Film motion smoothing option: Yes
Blur reduction option: Yes
BFI function 60Hz: Yes, 60Hz (image flickers)
BFI function 120Hz: No
Brightness drop with BFI: 50%
In terms of motion handling the S90H delivers a very high level of performance. A new feature here is a panel with a refresh rate of up to 165 Hz, although in practice this will mainly benefit PC gamers. Movies, TV series and sports broadcasts don’t use such high refresh rates, so when watching them the difference compared with the standard 120 Hz won’t be noticeable. That said, thanks to the OLED panel’s instantaneous response time, motion is very clean and the image doesn’t suffer from the smearing common to many LCDs. Samsung has equipped the TV with extensive motion settings. You get two sliders: judder reduction and blur reduction, which let you easily tailor the image’s character to your preferences. You can easily achieve very smooth motion for sport, but you can just as easily preserve a more cinematic feel at the typical 24 fps. It all comes down to which effect you prefer.
Blur (native resolution, maximum refresh rate):
Blur (BFI function enabled):
Image flickers in this mode
Blur (4K@165HZ):
When it comes to motion blur, OLED once again shows its advantage. The panel's lightning-fast response time means even very fast-moving scenes stay sharp, and the motion blur common to many LCD TVs is practically non-existent.
9.5/10
From the start, the Samsung S90H gives the impression of a TV designed with gamers in mind, and it's easy to see why. The maker has equipped it with nearly everything you’d expect from a modern gaming display. You get as many as four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, support for ALLM, VRR and very high refresh rates. There's also a clear Game Bar that lets you quickly check key picture parameters or change settings without leaving the game. Another very welcome improvement is HGiG support. Last year it could cause quite a few problems, but in the S90H it works exactly as it should.
Samsung's real ace, however, is its proprietary Game Motion Plus mode. The feature works much like the motion smoothing used in films: it improves animation smoothness in games while keeping input lag at a very reasonable level. For titles running at 30 or 60 fps, with the right settings, input lag in our testing never exceeded 40 ms. That's an excellent result, especially since on many manufacturers' TVs enabling similar features results in delays several times higher. Game Motion Plus doesn't replace Dolby Vision Gaming, of course, since it's a completely different type of feature, but overall for gaming it's an addition that many players may find more noticeable. Smoother motion in 30/60 fps games often makes more of a difference than HDR itself, which, incidentally, is often poorly implemented in games.
10/10
Input lag is another aspect that's really hard to fault. With a 120 Hz signal we measured just around 5 ms, which is an exceptional result. When switching to even higher refresh rates the delay fell to almost astronomically low levels, practically imperceptible during gameplay. The Samsung S90H delivers absolutely market-leading results here.
| SDR | HDR | Dolby Vision |
|---|---|---|
| 1080p60: 10 ms | 2160p60: 10 ms | |
| 1080p120: 5 ms | 2160p120: 5 ms | |
| 2160p60: 10 ms | ||
| 2160p120: 5 ms |
8.6/10
Chroma 444 (max. resolution and refresh rate): Yes
Font clarity: Very Good
Readability of dark text and shapes: Good
Input lag in PC mode (4K, max. refresh rate): 4ms
Matrix subpixel arrangement: RBG (QD-OLED)
Max refresh rate: 165Hz
G-Sync: Yes
The Samsung S90H makes an excellent large PC screen, and not just because of its gaming feature set. The panel supports refresh rates up to 165 Hz, has very low input lag, and its official NVIDIA G-Sync certification allows smooth gameplay without screen tearing when paired with GeForce cards. If you're after a large display that will handle demanding PC games well, the S90H is a great choice.
And what about everyday work with text or browsing the web? That's good too. Fonts are sharp and legible, though it's worth remembering the specifics of QD-OLED panels. Up very close you can see the characteristic triangular subpixel layout, which can make letter edges look slightly jagged or pick up faint, coloured fringing. Is that a problem? In practice, it's minor. After all, we're talking about a 77-inch screen, so few people will be sitting a few dozen centimetres from the panel. From a normal viewing distance this effect becomes practically invisible.
9.9/10
Brightness drop at an angle of 45 degrees: 9%
As you'd expect from an OLED, the viewing angles are excellent, but the QD-OLED panel used here goes a step further. Even if you sit well off to the side of the screen, the colours hardly lose saturation and the drop in brightness is marginal. There's also no sign of the greenish tint that can be annoying on some TVs with panels from LG Display. The image holds its colours very well regardless of the angle you view it from.
6.4/10
Panel finish: Matte
Reflection suppression: Very Good
Black levels during daytime: Average
The biggest new feature in the S90 series is the matte screen coating. Samsung has taken this step in this line for the first time and, in our view, it was a good move. In practice the difference is obvious straight away. The coating very effectively dampens reflections, so even when there's a window opposite the TV or a strong lamp is shining, you won't see the typical mirror-like glare on the screen. Instead you get only gently diffused light, which interferes much less with viewing. If the TV is going to sit in a bright lounge, that's hard to overstate. Of course there's a trade-off. QD-OLED with a matte coating has its characteristic quirk: when strong light hits the screen, blacks can shift slightly towards a cherry tint and colours may lose a little of their depth. This isn't a fault that appears in every situation, just a feature of this design under heavy lighting. Fortunately the TV is bright enough that daytime viewing isn't a problem. In SDR it reaches about 500 nits of average brightness, and combined with the matte coating this provides really comfortable viewing conditions.
Panel brightness
Samsung S90H (QD-OLED): 486 cd/m2
7.3/10
System: Tizen
System performance: Very good
When it comes to plain cable or an over‑the‑air antenna, Samsung hasn’t reinvented the wheel. Putting the whole AI stuff to one side, the user largely gets the same as last year. The TV just does its job: it switches channels smoothly, has a tuner and a slot for a CI module, so in many cases you can do without an external set‑top box. Teletext is still available. The compact remote is also worth praising; its biggest advantage is the radio link, so you don’t need to point it directly at the TV to change anything. The problem is most competitors offer these features these days, and the S90H doesn’t bring anything particularly special to the table. What’s more, the maker took a small step backwards. The S90 range has dropped PiP, picture‑in‑picture. If you were used to glancing at the news in the corner while watching another programme, you can’t do that here. A shame.
There may be little to get excited about with traditional TV features, but Tizen in its 2026 incarnation is absolutely top‑tier. Again putting AI features to one side, the key point is simple: this system is lightning‑fast. Responses to remote commands are instantaneous, and navigating menus shows no slow animations or annoying stutters. Although it doesn’t use Google TV, the app library is extensive. It includes practically all the major VOD streaming platforms, so there’s little to complain about on that front. Console‑free gamers will be happy too, because Samsung has greatly expanded the cloud gaming section, offering access to the main streaming services directly from the TV. As a Smart TV the S90H is a very well‑rounded and exceptionally fast set.
9.3/10
9.1/10
| Maximum photo resolution: | Supported photo formats: |
|---|---|
The built-in player handles most popular video, audio and photo formats very well. Its "playback capabilities" are comprehensive enough that you definitely won't miss the option to install external players like VLC. However, we encountered a serious bug when trying to open HEIC photos from an iPhone. The S90H not only failed to display the files, it caused the system to hang completely. The receiver stopped responding to any of our commands, so we had to reset it; unplugging it solved the problem. This appears to be a software flaw that requires an urgent fix in the next firmware update.
8.4/10
89dB
Maximum volume
Supported codecs (TV speakers)
Dolby Digital Plus 7.1
Dolby True HD 7.1
Dolby Atmos in Dolby Digital Plus (JOC)
Dolby Atmos in Dolby True HD
DTS:X in DTS-HD MA
DTS-HD Master Audio
Theoretically the audio spec in the S90 series has been unchanged for several years. We again get a 2.1 speaker system with a total power of 40 W. However, when we fired up the review unit we were pleasantly surprised. The TV sounded noticeably better than the dry specs or memories from tests of previous models would suggest. It's hard to say for sure whether that's down to optimisation of the audio processing software or simply the fact that the 77-inch cabinet allows somewhat larger drivers to be fitted and gives them more room to operate. The fact is the sound is fuller and more dynamic. That's a big plus for the manufacturer. The only real gripe is the lack of DTS support. Unfortunately this format is increasingly being dropped by TV makers, so Samsung is no exception. On board, however, there's support for the most popular spatial format, Dolby Atmos. Still, fans of physical Blu-ray releases, where DTS tracks are still commonly found, may feel slightly let down.
Sound Quality Test:
89dBC (Max)
75dBC
Software version during testing: 1122
Panel uniformity and thermal imaging:
Backlight Type: QD-OLED
Founder and originator of the "ChooseTV" portal
Journalist, reviewer, and columnist for the "ChooseTV" portal
michal-woloszyn-title
11/25/2025
12/1/2025