The Frame Pro / LS03HW
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Panel type: LCD VA Refresh rate: 144Hz Brand: SAMSUNG Resolution: 3840x2160 System: Tizen Model year: 2026
This review is an English translation of the Polish original. Read the original on Wybierz.tv.
The 2026 Samsung The Frame Pro is already the second version of this TV that we've had the chance to test. Compared with the regular The Frame, the manufacturer has focused primarily on two things here. The first is the wireless One Connect module, and the second is Mini-LED backlighting, which places this model in the Neo QLED range. So we checked what the manufacturer changed in this year's version, whether anything has actually been improved, and how The Frame Pro compares with the regular The Frame.
7.3
Overall rating
The Frame Pro 2026 makes sense primarily when the TV is meant to look good in the living room and not be another large black slab on the wall. And here Samsung still does something that most manufacturers cannot reproduce as well. Flush mounting, interchangeable bezels, Art Mode, a matte finish and the wireless One Connect make it so that, when properly hung, The Frame Pro can actually look more like a piece of décor than AV equipment. In our view, it is the best-executed TV of this kind on the market. Importantly, you do not simply pay for the looks at the expense of everyday use. The Frame Pro is bright, the matte finish deals very well with reflections, so it performs really well in a well-lit living room. Colours are vivid, motion handling is very good, and there are surprisingly many gaming features for a TV that is, first and foremost, supposed to "look better".
More questions arise when you consider the "Pro" suffix and its classification as a Neo QLED screen. You might expect a big jump in picture quality compared with the regular The Frame, but in practice it is not that large. The TV uses Mini-LED backlighting and local dimming, but the dimming zones are located at the edges of the screen. That is a completely different approach from more advanced Mini-LED models, where the backlight works across the whole surface of the panel. In bright, colourful scenes this is not a major problem. It gets worse in the evening, especially in films with many dark shots. Then you can see that black levels and backlight control are noticeably weaker than in the best Mini-LED TVs. This is where it becomes most apparent that "Pro" does not, in this case, mean top-tier picture quality.
An interesting alternative is the Samsung S99H. It has a very design-led character, but in terms of picture it already goes much further. Of course it also costs significantly more, so it is not a direct replacement but rather an option for someone who wants to combine both worlds without major compromises. So is it worth buying The Frame Pro 2026? In our view yes, but only if you know what you are paying for. The greatest strengths of this TV are its looks, Art Mode, very good performance in a bright living room and the wireless One Connect. If that is what you are after, The Frame Pro is a very interesting proposition. However, if the main argument for paying extra is markedly better picture quality, we are less convinced. It is simply a better, more refined The Frame, not a full-fledged rival to the best Mini-LEDs.
Wall picture styling: interchangeable frames
Generous accessory package: wall mount and Wiralles One Connect included
Art Store - the best art scans on the market
Matte screen finish - no reflections
High brightness of 850 to 900 nits
Wide colour gamut (QLED)
Many gaming features: VRR, ALLM, refresh rate up to 240 Hz, Game Motion Plus
Smooth and clear motion: relatively low motion blur for a VA panel
Tizen operating system, rich in modern features
Poor black levels for a screen from the "Neo QLED" family (edge-lit backlight)
Art Store requires a monthly subscription (you can get around this by uploading your own photos 😉)
Poor viewing angles (they could be better for a stronger picture-on-the-wall effect)
High input lag when using the Wireless One Connect module
Movies and series in UHD quality
6.8
Classic TV, YouTube
6.5
Sports broadcasts (TV and apps)
6.9
Gaming on console
8.9
TV as a computer monitor
8.4
Watching in bright light
6.5
Utility functions
7.7
Apps
9.3
Sound quality
6.4
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HDMI inputs: 0 x HDMI 2.0, 5 x HDMI 2.1 (48Gbps) Other inputs: USB-C, Micro-HDMI Outputs: Toslink (Optical audio), eARC (HDMI), ARC (HDMI) Network Interfaces: Wi-Fi 2.4GHz, Wi-Fi 5GHz, Ethernet (LAN) 100Mbps
Build quality: Premium
Stand type: Legs
Bezel color: Graphite
Stand: Height adjustment
Flat design: Yes
Accessories: Stand, Wall bracket, One Connect Box
In terms of looks The Frame Pro still very much sticks to the idea that has defined the whole series from the start. This is meant to be a television that, when switched off, least resembles a conventional TV. The casing is simple, flat and fairly slim, and the eye is drawn to the distinctive, even frame running around the screen. In an ordinary TV such a wide bezel might look a little old-fashioned, but here it has a specific purpose – the screen is meant to resemble a picture hanging on the wall as closely as possible. And The Frame Pro was created for exactly that kind of mounting. The set includes a special wall mount that allows you to hang the TV very close to the wall. The back is practically flat, so once mounted the whole unit looks really neat and conveys the idea behind the The Frame series far better than placing the TV on a cabinet.
Nonetheless Samsung also supplies conventional feet. They are small, plastic and set fairly wide, so they do their job, but it’s hard to call them a particularly attractive element of the design. Frankly, for such a specialised TV they could probably be omitted. One of The Frame Pro’s most important features remains the ability to change its look. You can fit additional decorative frames in various colours over the factory frame, which lets you match the TV much better to the room’s décor. Unfortunately they are sold separately, which is a shame, because only with such a frame does The Frame really start to fulfil its idea of "art instead of a television".
A significant role is also played by the wireless One Connect module. Most devices and cables are connected to that, which is why you won’t find the usual set of several HDMI ports, an aerial socket or Ethernet on the back of the screen itself. The module can be hidden in a cabinet or placed a few metres from the TV, with picture and sound transmitted wirelessly. For a television whose main advantage is a clean wall-mounted look, that solution makes a lot of sense. Interestingly, the screen itself hasn’t been completely stripped of connectors. On the back you will find, among other things, Micro HDMI with eARC support and USB Type-C.
Overall The Frame Pro is therefore one of those TVs where appearance really constitutes a large part of the product, rather than being merely an addition to picture quality. The wall mount, flat casing, swappable frames and wireless One Connect best show what The Frame series was actually created for.
Select size:
5.3/10
Local dimming function: Yes, number of zones: 24 (1 x 24)
Result
5,400:1
Result
3,250:1
Result
3,900:1
Result
3,750:1
Result
3,900:1
The Frame Pro formally belongs to the Neo QLED family, so it features a Mini-LED backlight. But it’s not the same kind of Mini-LED we know from most TVs in this series. Instead of a large number of zones placed behind the screen, this set has only a single row of zones along the edge. In practice it’s an edge-lit design that simply uses smaller LEDs. And unfortunately this becomes quite apparent in blacks. There is simply too little local dimming for the TV to cope well with more demanding scenes. In our measurements contrast most often fell in the range of 3000–5000:1, so it’s hard to speak of the kind of contrast typical of more sophisticated Mini-LED designs.
This is most visible when individual bright elements appear against a dark background. A larger portion of the picture lights up with them, which makes the blacks noticeably shallower, even navy blue. A scene from Sicario 2 illustrates this well. With the zones placed like this, the TV simply doesn’t have the precision to render it any other way. The Frame Pro uses Mini-LED, but its black performance is much closer to simpler designs. It’s a shame, because this was precisely the aspect we complained about most last year.
Halo effect and black detail visibility:
6/10
Supported formats: HDR10, HDR10+, HLG
Luminance measurements in HDR:
Result
834 nit
Result
536 nit
Result
545 nit
Result
460 nit
Result
668 nit
One thing you cannot deny The Frame Pro is: brightness. At peak we measured around 850–900 nits, so the TV already has enough power to show many HDR scenes really impressively. Bright, full‑screen shots and more colourful frames perform best here. In such scenes The Frame Pro can make a good impression because the image is bright, punchy and has the effect we expect from HDR. In our measurements some scenes reached over 800 nits, and even in more challenging segments the TV maintained a quite respectable brightness level.
The problem starts when HDR depends on small bright elements shown on a dark background. Individual lamps, stars or highlights can be bright, but very often the black level across a larger part of the image also rises. As a result the bright point itself may look good, but the whole frame loses a lot of quality. Therefore The Frame Pro shows HDR best in scenes that are simply full‑screen. If a film or TV series has plenty of such shots, the effect can be really pleasant. In darker material the limitations of local dimming are much more noticeable.
The Frame Pro should be praised for its colour gamut coverage. The TV uses quantum dots, the solution known as QLED, which allows it to reproduce very well saturated colours. In our measurements coverage of the most important film gamut DCI‑P3 was around 94.5%, while the more demanding BT.2020 was about 72%.
These are very solid results that in most scenes allow for pleasant, saturated colours. Of course these figures are not as spectacular as in the latest screens using RGB backlighting, but The Frame Pro makes up for that with something else: colour stability. Regardless of the scene, colour saturation remains fairly consistent and there are no situations where the TV loses colour badly in more demanding shots.
BT.2020 color gamut coverage and primary color luminance
| Data set | BT.2020 | P3 | R | G | B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Synthetic patterns | 72.1% | 94.3% | 68% | 73% | 75% |
| Film measurements | 72.2% | 94.3% | 62% | 67% | 69% |
BT.2020 and P3 – average color gamut coverage (percent of the target gamut).
R, G, B – average primary color luminance relative to target (percent).
Scene from the movie “Pan” (about 2800 nits)
Scene from the movie “Billy Lynn” (about 1100 nits)
When we evaluate The Frame Pro in terms of how it reproduces very bright highlights, it's worth approaching this in two ways. In popular streaming content, especially material prepared for displays reaching around 1000 nits, the TV performs very well. In the "Billy Lynn" scene you can see this in the fireworks — individual light sources are well separated and do not blend into a single large bright patch.
It fares much worse with truly demanding material. A good example is the sunset scene from the film "Pan", where the mastering brightness reaches nearly 3000 nits. In such passages The Frame Pro already struggles to correctly show the brightest details, and you can see it beginning to run out of headroom. This can be partially improved by changing the tone mapping from "Static" to "Active". The TV then handles very bright content better, but this is at the expense of accuracy for material mastered to 1000 nits, which we encounter far more often. Therefore, for everyday use we recommend leaving the tone mapping in "Static" mode.
HDR luminance chart:
The Frame Pro's tone mapping is adequate on its own, but its capabilities are most apparent when playing HDR10+ material. Dynamic metadata allows the TV to better match brightness to each scene, so more detail is retained in the highlights and the picture less often looks blown out. It's also worth noting that HDR10+ is far more common today than a year or two ago, so its presence is becoming increasingly important. We regard the absence of Dolby Vision as a drawback, but it's not as significant a loss as it was a few years ago.
Static HDR10
Dynamic: HDR10+
5.5/10
In SDR material The Frame Pro in Filmmaker mode performs quite well, though it falls a little short of perfect. The white balance is relatively even, but as brightness increases the blue component drops, so the brighter parts of the image can have a slightly warmer tint. A bigger difference is visible in the gamma, that is the handling of the screen's brightness. For most of the range it runs below our reference point, which means the TV slightly brightens midtones. As a result the image can appear a little brighter and less contrasty than it should. The colour errors themselves are not huge, but they are noticeable enough that calibration could still bring considerable improvement.
In HDR content the white balance looks similar — for a large part of the range it is fairly even, with larger deviations appearing only at higher brightness. The EOTF curve is more interesting. The Frame Pro sticks reasonably close to the reference values in the brighter part of the image, but clearly brightens the darkest sections. This is mainly due to the design of the TV's backlight. That also affects colours. With less saturated hues the errors remain moderate, but as saturation increases they become much larger. In Colour Checker measurements a large portion of samples already show high error values. The factory HDR can therefore be regarded as decent, but it is certainly not an image we would call very faithful.
8.5/10
After calibration the biggest improvement is visible above all in SDR content. We managed to even out the white balance, but the more important change was the gamma correction, which before calibration had the greatest influence on the image character. After the adjustments the gamma curve is now very close to the reference, so the picture is not as bright in the midtones and simply looks more natural. Colour errors have also been significantly reduced, so the effect of calibration in SDR is clearly visible.
With HDR the situation is somewhat more complex. White balance has been improved and over part of the range the TV stays much closer to the reference, but deviations still appear at higher brightness levels. The same applies to colour reproduction: some errors can be corrected, but not all stem from the settings alone. This highlights the limitations of the TV's design and the way its backlight and local dimming affect HDR images. Therefore, with The Frame Pro calibration makes the biggest difference to everyday viewing. Regular TV, YouTube and films and series in SDR (mainly those from the cheaper tiers of streaming services) can look noticeably better afterwards.
9.5/10
In terms of the smoothness of tonal transitions, The Frame Pro performs really well. In most content there is no obvious banding or unpleasant transitions between similar shades, and gradients look smooth and natural. Even in more demanding scenes with fog or dark transitions, issues are very rare. This is definitely one of the model's stronger points.
7.5/10
Smooth transition function
Image without overscan on the SD signal
The Frame Pro uses the NQ4 AI Gen2 processor, so in terms of image processing it behaves very similarly to other newer Samsung TVs. Upscaling works really well – lower-resolution content is appropriately sharpened and the picture remains clear without excessive edge enhancement. With regular broadcast TV or lower-quality YouTube material this can provide a noticeable improvement, although viewers watching even older material, e.g. from VHS tapes, may notice a slight cropping of the image on the left side (overscan).
It's a bit different when improving more highly compressed footage by reducing noise and artefacts such as posterization. The "Noise reduction" function can improve poor material, but fairly quickly it begins to alter the picture and remove fine details and grain. Therefore it's best to use it sparingly and mainly when the source truly requires it.
7.9/10
Maximum refresh rate of the panel: 144Hz
Film motion smoothing option: Yes
Blur reduction option: Yes
BFI function 60Hz: Yes, 60Hz (image flickers)
BFI function 120Hz: No
Brightness drop with BFI: 70%
The Frame Pro comes with a 144 Hz panel, and when connected to a PC it also supports 240 Hz at Full HD resolution. That feature is primarily aimed at PC gamers, but the TV also performs very well at the standard 120 Hz refresh rate used for watching sport or gaming on consoles. A key advantage is the low level of motion blur. For a VA panel, The Frame Pro does very well in this respect. You don't see the strong, dark trailing smears behind moving objects that we often encounter on TVs with this type of panel. As a result, fast-paced sport and dynamic games remain clear in motion. Of course there's also motion smoothing with adjustable smoothness, so for films and sports broadcasts we can tailor the motion character to our preferences. You'll find our recommended settings in the photo.
Blur (native resolution, maximum refresh rate):
Blur (BFI function enabled):
Image flickers in this mode
Blur (1080p@240Hz):
The "Clear LED Motion" feature is also available, which is a stroboscopic backlight (BFI). In theory it should further improve motion clarity, but in practice it causes very noticeable image flicker. For this reason we do not recommend using this feature.
9.6/10
Functionally for gamers The Frame Pro has a great deal to offer. The TV supports 4K at 120 Hz, VRR, ALLM and a properly implemented HGiG. When connected to a PC you can also use 144 Hz at 4K, and even 240 Hz when dropping to Full HD. Samsung also includes its standard suite of gaming extras. There is an expanded Game Bar that lets you quickly view and change the most important settings, and Game Motion Plus, which can improve the smoothness of games running at 30 or 60 frames per second. On top of that there is the Gaming Hub and the option to play in the cloud without needing to connect a console. The only real omission is Dolby Vision Gaming, which Samsung does not support. Apart from that, The Frame Pro offers virtually everything you can expect from a well-equipped gaming TV today.
10/10
On The Frame Pro, input lag depends mainly on where you plug in your console or PC. We measured it with a direct connection to the Micro HDMI 2.1 port on the back of the TV, because that is the setup we'd recommend for gaming. In that case the results are very good, about 13 ms at 60 Hz and 7 ms at 120 Hz.
A much worse picture appears when the console is connected to the wireless One Connect module. In our case the module sat about 2.5 metres from the TV, next to the sofa and with no major obstructions in between. Despite that, the delay increased to roughly 60–70 ms at 60 Hz and 30–40 ms at 120 Hz. And you can really feel that difference. So if you want to play on The Frame Pro, it's best to plug the console directly into the TV.
Input lag Wireless One Connect (approx. 2.5 m from the TV)
SDR | HDR |
|---|---|
1080p 60 Hz: 61 | 2160p 60 Hz HDR: 71 |
1080p 120 Hz: 39 | 2160p 120 Hz HDR: 32 |
2160p 60 Hz: 63 | |
2160p 120 Hz: 32 |
| SDR | HDR | Dolby Vision |
|---|---|---|
| 1080p60: 13 ms | 2160p60: 13 ms | |
| 1080p120: 7 ms | 2160p120: 7 ms | |
| 2160p60: 13 ms | ||
| 2160p120: 7 ms |
8.4/10
Chroma 444 (max. resolution and refresh rate): Yes
Font clarity: Good
Readability of dark text and shapes: Good
Matrix subpixel arrangement: RGB
Max refresh rate: 144Hz
G-Sync: Yes
The Frame Pro performs well when connected to a PC. It supports full 4:4:4, 144 Hz at 4K and 240 Hz at Full HD. It also works with both NVIDIA's G-Sync and AMD's FreeSync. However, it's not ideal for working with text. From a normal viewing distance everything looks fine, but up close you can see minor artefacts around fonts and slightly less clean edges. This doesn't matter much for gaming or watching content, but it can be noticeable when doing office work.
3.4/10
Brightness drop at an angle of 45 degrees: 72%
The Frame Pro’s viewing angles are mediocre at best, if not poor. The TV uses a conventional VA panel, and at wider angles the image loses quality fairly quickly. Brightness falls first and foremost, but colour saturation also noticeably fades, making the picture look more washed out. That’s a bit more of a shame with The Frame Pro than with a regular television. It’s a model that is often intended to hang on a wall and also serve as a piece of art, so better viewing angles would be genuinely welcome here.
6.5/10
Panel finish: Matte
Reflection suppression: Very Good
Black levels during daytime: Average
During the day The Frame Pro performs quite well. SDR brightness stays around 600 nits, so even in a more brightly lit room the picture remains clear. The biggest advantage, however, is the matte screen coating, which diffuses reflections very effectively and means lamps or windows are far less visible on the screen. We did notice, though, that on this year’s model the coating affects the image a little more. With more light blacks appear slightly lifted and colours lose some of their depth. It’s still a very good option for a bright living room, but in that respect the screen is not entirely without compromises.
Panel brightness
Samsung The Frame Pro 2026 (LS03HW): 587 cd/m2
7.7/10
System: Tizen
System performance: Good
The Smart TV features are, of course, handled by Tizen. The system runs smoothly and offers a very large selection of streaming apps. It also supports AirPlay, Miracast and voice search in Polish. In this respect The Frame Pro is not particularly different from other new Samsung models. We simply get the manufacturer's extensive, well-functioning system.
The Art Mode is naturally much more interesting, as it is one of the most important features of the entire The Frame series. When switched off the TV can display artworks, photographs or graphics instead of a black screen, and can quite convincingly mimic a traditional framed picture on the wall. Samsung provides access to the Art Store, where the selection of works is really large and the materials themselves are prepared to a very high quality. The problem is that full access requires a subscription, and in our view that is a significant downside for a TV whose main selling point is this very feature. Fortunately we are not tied to the Art Store. You can upload your own photos or graphics, so nothing prevents you from finding a high-resolution artwork yourself and displaying it on the screen. The automation of this mode is also very well designed. The Frame Pro not only has an ambient light sensor, which can adapt the appearance of the displayed image to the room, but also a presence sensor. The TV can therefore detect when someone is in the room and automatically start Art Mode.
As for classic TV features, The Frame Pro offers a fairly basic set of conveniences. It has DVB-T/T2, DVB-S/S2 and DVB-C tuners, teletext, an audio-only mode and the ability to use Bluetooth headphones and the TV speakers at the same time. However, it lacks the ability to record programmes to USB, PiP and a more advanced remote, for example one with a numeric keypad. The remote operates via radio, so you do not have to point it at the screen.
9.3/10
9.1/10
| Maximum photo resolution: | Supported photo formats: |
|---|---|
The Frame Pro handles playback of files from USB storage well. Most common video, audio and photo formats work correctly, so you’re unlikely to need to connect a laptop just to play a film or browse photos. What we miss most is support for HEIC, the format commonly used for photos taken on iPhones. So Apple users will therefore have to convert such photos beforehand to a supported format or simply stream them to the TV via AirPlay. Other than that, the player works very well.
6.4/10
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
The Frame Pro's sound is adequate and has changed little from last year's model. The TV handles dialogue particularly well, with voices clear and easy to hear. However, it lacks stronger bass, so films and music don't have much depth. Therefore, if better sound matters, it's worth considering a soundbar when buying The Frame Pro. Models from the S series are particularly well suited, as their slim design complements the TV's appearance. Finally, it's worth noting that The Frame Pro supports Dolby Atmos, so with a compatible soundbar or AV receiver you can enjoy surround sound. It does not support DTS, which is worth bearing in mind when playing films from your own library, for example Blu-ray discs.
Sound Quality Test:
89dBC (Max)
75dBC
Software version during testing: 1204
Panel uniformity and thermal imaging:
Backlight Type: Mini-LED QLED
Founder and originator of the "ChooseTV" portal
Journalist, reviewer, and columnist for the "ChooseTV" portal
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