Samsung QE65S90H

Price

The QE65S90H is widely available in the UK for £1,899 at the time of writing, having benefited from a recent £200 price reduction. That’s a pretty aggressive price for a mid-range OLED TV, coming in at £900 less than Samsung’s flagship 65S99H and £800 less than Samsung’s 65S95H (which joins the S99H in using QD OLED technology, but delivers significantly less brightness than the S99H models).

In keeping with the arch rivalry between the two brands, meanwhile, the 65S90H’s price matches to the penny what LG is asking for its mid-range OLED65C6.

Design

• Reflection-free screen
• Ultra-thin rear
• Close-set feet for desktop mounting

I’ve always been a fan of the design of Samsung’s S90 OLED series, and that continues with the 2026 QE65S90H.

The frame around the screen is nice and slim, while the depth of the screen is remarkably thin over much of its rear, creating a futuristic, high-tech, premium impression before you’ve even switched the TV on.

Inevitably there is a section at the bottom of the QE65S90H’s rear where the connections, speakers and processors need to go. This chunkier section isn’t so deep that it would make the TV look clumsy or cumbersome if hung on a wall.

The feet provided with the TV slot easily but firmly onto the screen with no need for any screws, and their position towards the centre of the screen means the TV can sit on almost any width of desktop furniture.

The QE65S90H ships with a silvery plastic cover that slots over its feet to create the impression that it’s sitting on a plate-style base. Personally I’m not sure this is necessary; the feet look fine without the cover. But I guess it’s always good for consumers to have a choice.

Connectivity

• Four full bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports
• Two USB ports
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, including Airplay 2

The QE65S90H is impressively well connected for a mid-range TV – again matching all the way the LG OLED65C6 it stands so closely against.

The four HDMI inputs we now expect to find on any mid-range or higher TV all support the full gamut of HDMI 2.1 gaming features, including 4K up to 165Hz and variable refresh rates. One of them also delivers HDMI’s eARC feature, enabling sound, including lossless Dolby Atmos, to be passed out through the TV to a compatible soundbar or AVR.

Two USB ports are provided for playback of files from USB drives and powering HDMI sticks, while the usual Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and AirPlay 2 wireless options are there for anyone who’s away from wires. The wireless options include the ability to pass (lossy) Dolby Atmos sound without the need for any cables to compatible Samsung soundbars and speakers.

User Experience

• Tizen OS
• Voice Control
• Two Remote options

The QE65S90H’s operating system is built around Samsung’s venerable Tizen OS. This is excellent in terms of its coverage of all the streaming apps most people will need (at least since the BBC iPlayer recently re-appeared), and its layout and usability has been greatly improved this year by the appearance of a simple extra row of navigation icons along the top of the screen.

These new icons include an AI option that takes you into Samsung’s unrivalled suite of AI options – including access to TV-optimised version of both the Perplexity and Copilot AI engines. Samsung’s content recommendation and voice recognition features are as good as it gets, I’d say, especially in combination with the TV’s support for different personal profiles for various members of your household, so everyone can create their own individual home screen and content history.

Samsung’s TV set up menus are overlaid on top of the Smart menus cleanly and logically, too – though you can also control an impressive range of the TV’s features without the menus, via voice command, if you’re comfortable talking to your TV.

If you’re using the QE65S90H for gaming, holding down the smart remote control’s play button calls up a dedicated gaming menu. The smart remote also manages to make the TV controllable via a seriously cut back button count, and carries a solar panel on its rear so you don’t have to keep replacing its batteries.

Samsung also provides a more standard battery-powered remote with a full numeric button pad, but the smart remote works well enough in conjunction with the on-screen menus to leave the regular remote feeling largely redundant.

The are a couple of limitations to the QE65S90H’s usability. You don’t get the Freely app that lets you stream most of the UK channels without needing an aerial or the UK’s key terrestrial broadcaster catch up apps.

I also don’t like the amount of home screen real estate that’s either given over to ads if you agree to them appearing, or is given over to frankly not very much if you opt out of ads.

Overall, the QE65S90H’s operating system is both extremely sophisticated and fairly easy to use. Especially if you accustom yourself to voice control.

Features

• NQ4 AI Gen3 Processor
• HDR10+ Advanced support
• Object tracking sound system

The QE65S90H’s OLED panel, picture processing and smart features are driven by Samsung’s NQ4 AI Gen 3 processor.

The AI part of this processor’s name is more than just hot air, as machine learning systems are at play across all sorts of this TV’s performance and features. From the ability of Tizen OS to learn your viewing habits and recommend content, through to AI systems that can up-convert SDR images to HDR, and an AI picture mode that can automatically adjust picture and sound settings to suit both the type of content you’re watching and the room conditions the TV’s operating in.

You probably won’t want to use this mode for accurate movie night viewing; that’s what the Filmmaker Mode and Movie mode are for. For daylight viewing, the QE65S90H’s AI mode is becoming almost scarily engaging. Especially once it’s learned from your setting tweaks that you prefer colour to be a little more controlled and balanced than it is in this mode out of the box.

The QE65S90H supports the HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG HDR formats, but as ever with Samsung TVs, there’s no Dolby Vision. The HDR10+ support  extends to the new HDR10+ Advanced format, which offers enhanced overall and localised brightness, more advanced dynamic tone mapping built on analysis of a much larger number of image zones, more intelligent and adaptive motion smoothing processing, more advanced genre recognition and adaptation, and more intelligent colour controls.

The QE65S90H’s screen sports a seriously effective anti-reflective coating, in keeping with all of Samsung’s premium TVs for 2026.

The many picture-related features are backed up on the audio side by a 2.1-channel 40W sound system, Samsung’s Q Symphony system where the TV’s speakers can join forces with those in Samsung’s soundbars, and a Lite version of Samsung’s object tracking sound (OTS) system, where acoustic processing strives to make specific sound effects appear to be coming from the correct part of the screen.

Gaming

• 4K/165Hz playback
• Variable refresh rates
• HDR10+ Gaming

The QE65S90H ticks all the key feature boxes today’s discerning gamers could hope to see. All four HDMI sockets can take in 4K/165Hz refresh rates. There’s no restricting the full bandwidth HDMI count to two like we see with some mid-range and even premium TVs.

Variable refresh rates are supported, too, including AMD FreeSync Premium and NVIDIA G-Sync formats, while Auto Low Latency Mode switching allows the set to automatically switch into its low-latency game mode. Once in this mode the QE65S90H is capable of screening 60Hz game feeds received at its HDMI inputs in just 9.1ms – one of the lowest input lag figures I’ve seen on a TV.

Support for HGiG allows you to set your game console’s HDR output up to suit the TV, rather than have the TV’s own dynamic tone mapping systems always trying (usually at the cost of image stability) to adapt the TV to a game’s ever-changing graphics.

There are AI Auto Game Mode and AI Gaming Optimiser settings, as well as support for Super Ultra Wide Game View aspect ratios if your PC game offers them.

The Game Bar menu that becomes available when the TV detects you’re playing a game carries a few helpful gaming aids. Highlights include a super-imposed crosshair, a Game Motion Plus setting that lets you call in a couple of levels of motion compensation processing for low frame rate games that aren’t dependent on ultra-fast reaction times, a Dynamic Black EQ mode that raises the brightness of dark areas without impacting the rest of the picture, and Mini Map Zoom.

Picture Quality

• Strong black levels
• Not the same colour performance as QD OLED
• Sharp image

The QE65S90H wastes no time in delivering the sort of benefits I’ve come to expect from a high quality OLED screens. Black levels are typically inkily deep and natural in tone, thanks to the way each OLED pixel can produce its own light rather than being dependent on external lighting systems like LCD TVs are.

OLED’s self-illuminating nature means that the QE65S90H can deliver very bright highlights against very dark backdrops without either compromising the other. Even when a shots’ darkest and brightest pixels sit literally right alongside each other.

The ability of the QE65S90H’s screen to suppress almost all on-screen reflections is almost uncannily good, making it easy to feel immersed in dark scenes even in bright rooms. What’s more, the filter that delivers this absence of reflections doesn’t cause black levels to look as raised in bright rooms as previous generations have. In fact, what little black-raising there is in a bright room tends to be disguised away by the very ambient light that’s causing it.

The QE65S90H is not in the same brightness league as Samsung’s flagship QD OLED S99H models, In its Standard mode, measurements taken with Portrait Displays’ Calman Ultimate software, G1 signal generator and C6 HDR5000 colorimeter show brightness peaks on 1% and 2% test windows of 2450 nits, dropping to 1500 nits on a 10% window.

The Filmmaker Mode also peaks at this 1500-nit level. These numbers are, as you can tell from just looking at the picture, substantially down on the those delivered by the S99H, which amazingly hits 4450 nits on 1% and 2% test windows, 2730 nits on a 10% window in Standard mode, and a near 2800-nit peak in its Filmmaker Mode.

The QE65S90H’s pictures actually look agreeably punchy and intense for such an affordable TV, though. There is, don’t forget, £900 gap between the QE65S99H’s and that of the QE65S90H, and in the context of a gap that large the QE65S90H’s contrast and brightness holds up rather well.

It’s good to see that the QE65S90H’s impressive contrast mostly feels very natural. Subtle shadow details aren’t crushed out into the darkest corners in most picture presets, and while the brightest peaks can suffer slight clipping (lost shading detail), this is so subtle and rare that many viewers may not even notice it unless they specifically know what they’re looking for.

The latest dynamic tone mapping processing appears much more sophisticated at how it expands HDR content to take advantage of the entire huge light range this screen can achieve compared with previous Samsung S90 generations. In fact, the improved dynamic tone mapping with HDR10 content is so good it makes the lack of Dolby Vision support feel much less of a loss than I’d normally expect.

The QE65S90H’s sharpness with native 4K sources is outstanding. Especially in the Standard preset, which sharpens the picture without causing the sort of noise or exaggerated grain issues that Samsung’s Standard modes used to in years gone by. There can be some slight edge haloing in Standard HDR mode with extremely defined content, but it’s mild enough no to really distract.

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The sharpness holds up well when the screen’s showing motion if you’re careful with the QE65S90H’s motion processing options. The default Picture Clarity settings can cause the picture to look too smooth and impacted by distracting processing side effects in some presets, but choosing a Custom setting with noise reduction turned off and judder/blur reduction set to around level four (out of 10) hits a good balance of reducing judder while still leaving 24p images looking cinematic and clean.

I am also much happier with the default sharpness and detail levels of the Movie and Filmmaker Mode presets now than I have been before at this level of Samsung’s TV range, with at least some of this enhanced clarity in the QE65S90H’s relatively accurate modes seemingly down to improvements to the accuracy and subtlety with which these modes are able to render colour.

Ah, colour. Out of the box, at least, the QE65S90H’s colour performance is its weakest link. While colours look fine with SDR, with HDR they don’t seem to lack the range and saturation consistency seen with, especially, Samsung’s step-up S99H QD OLED model for 2026, but also their S90F predecessors. This result (I assume) of the switch from a QD OLED panel in the 65S90F to a WRGB panel in the QE65S90F.

My subjective feeling of a reduced colour gamut on the QE65S90H is borne out by objective measurements, too, with Calman Ultimate confirming that the 65S90H covers 98.6% of the DCI-P3 colour spectrum usually used for HDR content mastering in its Filmmaker Mode, while the QE65S90F managed to cover 127%. A near 30% increase that I think explains why HDR shots can look a touch desaturated in very bright areas using the 65S90H’s Standard preset, and also contributes to the Standard mode carrying a slightly salmony undertone to its colours that can be especially noticeable with skin tones during dark scenes.

The QE65S90H’s support for the new HDR10+ Advanced HDR system, which is already widely available on Prime Video, helps it deliver generally better colour balance without any manual intervention. Also, with non-HDR10+ Advanced sources, just setting the Color Booster Pro setting to Low can at least reduce the salmony look of some of the Standard preset’s colours.

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And while there’s nothing you can do to expand the QE65S90H’s colour range to match that of Samsung’s QD OLED TVs, the Standard preset does still in the end deliver a significantly bolder, brighter, more richly saturated image than its Filmmaker Mode, making it still a welcome option for bright room settings.

The Filmmaker Mode delivers more natural and more balanced colours, as well as avoiding a slight tendency the Standard mode has for bringing out more detail in very dark HDR areas than you were intended to see. In its default settings, the Filmmaker Mode can actually go too far in the other direction by crushing subtle detail out of the picture. Fortunately a decent fix for this is provided in the form of a Shadow Detail adjustment; push this up to its four or even five level and as if by magic, most lost dark detail sneaks back in.

One final issue with the QE65S90H finds the screen taking on a slight green tint if you watch it from a wide viewing angle. The only fix for this one is (drum roll please) to try not to watch the TV from a wide angle.

While its relatively limited colour range means the QE65S90H ultimately lacks a little of the sparkle associated with previous QD OLED variations of this part of Samsung’s OLED range, overall the set’s main out of the box issues can be fairly straightforwardly tweaked away to leave you with a worthy rival to other strong TVs in the same price zone.

Upscaling

• Detail rich
• Removes noise

The AI-rich video processing in the QE65S90H delivers outstanding upscaling of good and even average quality HD sources. Pretty much all noise is removed from sub-4K sources before upscaling is applied, but at the same time the difference between real grain and unwanted noise is deftly identified and handled.

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The millions of extra pixels required are added with exceptional intelligence too, maintaining accurate and subtly rendered colour tones and a sense of detail and sharpness that doesn’t look noisy, gritty or forced.

Sound Quality

• Standard and Amplify modes
• Object Tracking Sound support
• Not the deepest bass

While the QE65S90H’s default Standard mode is smooth and controlled, it feels a little flat and un-dynamic for my tastes, and doesn’t create a spacious sound stage. Happily Samsung also provides an Amplify mode that delivers more volume, a bigger sound stage, and a more dynamic presentation without sounding too forced or over-stated.

The set’s Object Tracking Sound feature works well when it comes to making non-diegetic sounds such as musical scores exist beyond the on-screen world, and also places effects in the right area on the screen nicely for the most part. Voices, in particular, sound very well placed across the screen to match the position of whoever’s talking.

High pitched sounds are handled well for most of the time, with minimal harshness or shrillness. This is even true in the latest Amplify mode. Detailing is good in both Standard and Amplify modes, too, with excellent sensitivity to even the smallest background sounds. At the same time, though, such sounds aren’t given too much emphasis.

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The Amplify Mode’s mid-range is enjoyably open and quite dynamic for such a slim TV, helping it to sound balanced and rounded even during the movie world’s densest, loudest moments. It’s also capable of escalating the sound quite effectively as action or horror scenes expand towards there climaxes, and doesn’t collapse back on itself when the going gets really tough like many TV speaker systems can.

Bass doesn’t reach particularly deep, it has to be said. But it’s present and punchy, and for most of the time it sounds nicely balanced with the rest of a film mix, rather than overpowering it. It’s well timed, too, where it’s needed for percussive rather than rumbling effect.

The OTS effect isn’t as pin-point accurate, especially at casting effects beyond the TV’s frame, as it is on Samsung’s flagship TVs this year. While voices are placed well horizontally across the picture, too, they can sound as if they’re coming from slightly below the image.

And finally in the negative column, really extreme and sustained bass drops can cause the speakers to buzz and whoop a bit, with the very deepest bass sounds sometimes just dropping out entirely. But the QE65S90H is hardly the first TV to suffer this way, and actually the bass conditions required to trigger such issues on this set are more extreme than they are on many mid-range TV rivals.

Should you buy it?

Samsung’s less expensive OLED TV for 2026

It gives you Samsung’s strong smart features and video processing advantages on an OLED TV that doesn’t cost the earth.

Out of the box picture could be better

It makes you work for the best pictures in a couple of its key presets, and it lacks the colour intensity of Samsung’s QD OLED screens.

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Final Thoughts

The QE65S90H’s switch to a WRGB type of panel rather than the QD OLED panels previous generations of the TV used does come at the expense of a little of the wow factor – at least when it comes to colour – that those predecessors delivered.
 
While a couple of the set’s key presets could have been done better, the tools are provided for you to tweak out most of the out of the box issues. At which point you’ve got a strong value OLED TV capable of holding its own in what’s become, this year more than ever, the TV world’s most competitive TV space.

How We Test

The QE65S90H was tested over a period of 16 days in both dark test room and regular living room settings. It was used with a wide mix of content, including console games, 4K Blu-rays, streams and HDR formats (bar Dolby Vision, which Samsung’s TV never support). Broadcast tuner footage from the UK’s Freeview HD services was also used.

All of this content was watched on the 65S90H in both daylight and dark conditions, and we explored all of the TV’s many picture setting options to find the best set ups for both regular living room environments and dark home theatres.

Finally, the Samsung 65S90H was objectively tested in both SDR and HDR modes in multiple presets using Portrait Display’s Calman Ultimate software, G1 processor and a C6 HDR5000 colorimeter.

• Tested in dark and bright room settings
• Tested with real-world content
• Benchmarked with Portrait Displays’ Calman Ultimate Software, G1 signal generator and C6 HDR5000 colorimeter
• Gaming input lag was measured with a Leo Bodnar signal generator

FAQs

What HDR formats does the Samsung QE65S90H support?

The QE65S90H supports HDR10, HLG, HDR10+ and the new HDR10+ Advanced system.

What panel technology does the Samsung QE65S90H use?

The QE65S90H uses an EX grade of WRGB panel rather than one of Samsung’s home-grown QD OLED panels.

Test Data

	Samsung QE65S90H
Input lag (ms)	9.1 ms
Peak brightness (nits) 2%	2450 nits
Peak brightness (nits) 10%	1760 nits
Peak brightness (nits) 100%	290 nits
Set up TV (timed)	300 Seconds

Full Specs

	Samsung QE65S90H Review
Manufacturer	Samsung
Screen Size	64.5 inches
Size (Dimensions)	1444.3 x 265.2 x 896.7 MM
Size (Dimensions without stand)	831.7 x 1444.3 x 39.9 MM
Weight	19.1 KG
Operating System	Tizen
Release Date	2026
Resolution	3840 x 2160
HDR	Yes
Types of HDR	HDR10, HLG, HDR10+, HDR10+ Advanced
Refresh Rate TVs	48 – 165 Hz
Ports	Four HDMI 2.1, 2 x USB, Ethernet, RF input, optical digital audio output; RF and satellite tuner inputs
HDMI (2.1)	eARC, VRR, ALLM, 4K/165Hz
Audio (Power output)	40 W
Connectivity	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Apple Airplay 2
Display Technology	OLED, QLED
UK RRP	£1899
USA RRP	$1499
CA RRP	CA$2299
AUD RRP	AU$3399