After nearly a decade of absence from the OLED TV market, Samsung is back to join the party, but with a novel spin on the popular display technology. The QE65S95B (also available in 55in) sports a new panel design that uses quantum dots - the tech behind its QLED panels - to deliver all the benefits of OLED, combined with purer colours and brighter highlights.

The result is QD-OLED, but how does it compare to its now well-established rivals? We grabbed the popcorn and sat down with it to find out.

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Samsung S95B
Editor's Choice

The Samsung S95B delivers excellent image accuracy, a comprehensive smart system and gaming features will delight next-gen console owners. The sound system is limited compared to other high-end Samsung TVs, and the lack of Dolby Vision disappoints, but it offers incredible value in the Samsung premium line up.

Pros
  • Excellent picture quality
  • Bright HDR for an OLED
  • VRR, ALLM and 4K/120Hz support
  • Competitive pricing
Cons
  • No Dolby Vision
  • Slightly sluggish operating system
  • Sound is so-so

Design

  • 4 x HDMI inputs with eARC; 3 x USB; Ethernet
  • Wi-Fi; Bluetooth; AirPlay 2

The Samsung S95B sports an ultra-slim design that widens towards the bottom to accommodate its connections, electronics and speakers. But since the panel itself is mere millimetres deep, and given the bigger lower section only covers about half its width, the overall integrity is a bit wobbly.

Once attached to its stand the S95B feels bit more solid, and the narrower footprint makes positioning easier, but you still need to be careful when moving the TV. If you prefer you can wall mount the panel using a standard 300 x 200mm VESA bracket or Samsung’s Slim Fit support.

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The S95B doesn’t use Samsung’s One Connect box, but has a full complement of connections with four HDMI inputs – two facing sideways and two downwards. All are capable of handling 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM, with HDMI 3 also supporting eARC.

There are also two USB 2.0 inputs at the side, while facing downwards you’ll find twin tuners for terrestrial and satellite broadcasts, an optical digital output, and an Ethernet port. In terms of wireless connections, there's Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and support for AirPlay 2.

The S95B ships with two remotes – a standard black plastic zapper, plus a solar-powered smart version offering a stripped-down set of controls that include direct access buttons for Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, and Samsung’s TV Plus.

Features

  • Tizen-powered smart platform
  • Bixby, Google, Alexa, and Siri support
  • Object Tracking Sound
  • Dolby Atmos decoding

The Samsung S95B uses the newly redesigned Tizen-powered smart platform, which drops the launcher bar along the bottom, and replaces it with a full-screen home page where the emphasis is on presenting content and recommendations. The interface is fine, but feels a little sluggish.

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There’s a comprehensive selection of video streaming apps that includes Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, Now TV, Rakuten, YouTube, and all the UK catch-up services. All this content is coherently presented, with customisation and recommendation features that are also effective.

There’s built-in Bixby, plus the S95B also works with Alexa and Google. You can even access Siri using AirPlay 2, while the SmartThings app allows for quick and easy setup, plus a degree of control if you don’t fancy using either of the provided remotes or your voice.

The S95B only includes Samsung’s basic Object Tracking Sound speaker system, but the inclusion of on-board Dolby Atmos decoding combined with psychoacoustic processing allows this TV to generate an enjoyable object-based experience from a limited number of speakers.

If you want to boost the TV’s sonic capabilities you can use Q-symphony to integrate it with supporting Samsung soundbars. Finally there’s a multi-view mode that allows users to watch two different sources simultaneously, with options to adjust the size, position and audio priority.

Performance

  • QD-OLED panel
  • HDR Support: HDR10, HLG, HDR10+ Adaptive
  • Processing engine: Neo Quantum 4K Processor with AI

The Samsung S95B uses a new QD-OLED panel, which employs layers of blue OLED to self-illuminate each pixel, with quantum dot filters used to create the red and green sub-pixels. This panel is made by Samsung Display, and is also used in Sony’s competing A95K.

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The logic behind this approach is that by only using multiple layers of blue OLED it eliminates the issue of blue decaying faster than red and green in OLEDs. According to Samsung this panel design also results in brighter images and more precise colours thanks to the use quantum dot filters.

As with all Samsung TVs, the S95B ships in the Standard picture mode, which suffers from the usual blue-tinged whites and over-saturated colours. Luckily, the Filmmaker mode fixes all of these issues with a single button press, producing a picture that matches the industry standards.

This superb level of accuracy ensures SDR images are simply stunning, with OLED’s usual deep blacks and excellent shadow delineation, combined with precisely rendered details, realistic whites, and natural colours when it comes to key factors like flesh tones.

The picture processing is excellent, with the 4K Neural Quantum chipset bringing out all the details in high-quality images, and giving them added depth. The upscaling and image enhancements are both superb, ensuring that even lower resolution content is very watchable.

This impressive processing extends to the S95B’s motion handling, which is also fantastic. The motion is smooth and free of obvious judder, even with the Picture Clarity turned off. This is the best option for movies, but if you watch a lot of fast-paced sports you'll find this feature useful.

The Samsung S95B makes good on the brand’s claims about the benefits of QD-OLED, delivering a peak luminance of over 1,000 nits on a 10% window. This is class-leading for an OLED, and results in superior HDR that can display 1,000 nits content without resorting to any tone mapping.

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The quantum dot layers used for red and green help produce wider and purer colours with HDR, as evidenced by DCI-P3 coverage that measures 100%. Crucially, the saturation sweeps for DCI-P3 within BT.2020 are also very accurate, resulting in expertly rendered colours with HDR content.

The overall HDR accuracy is excellent in Filmmaker mode, with red, green, and blue tracking almost exactly as they should, and the EOTF mapping the PQ target precisely. The S95B supports high dynamic range in the form of HDR10, HLG, and HDR10+ Adaptive, but sadly - as we've come to expect from Samsung - there’s no Dolby Vision for getting the most out of your Netflix subscription.

However on 4K Blu-ray, the Samsung’s HDR prowess is immediately obvious watching The Batman, with its brooding cinematography that utilises deep blacks and richly textured shadows to build the titular hero’s world. A fight scene in a corridor illuminated entirely by muzzle flashes is particularly impressive, and perfectly demonstrates this OLED’s strengths.

The Revenant is primarily composed of snowy landscapes that often betray the limitations of OLED, but here the S95B reveals its abilities at the other end of the scale, producing enough luminance to ensure these bright white vistas retain enough overall pop.

The incredibly wide colour gamut is also impressive, especially when watching films that use deliberately over-saturated colours, such as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 or Inside Out. The S95B is able to reproduced the HDR in both movies with remarkable depth and subtlety.

While there’s no Dolby Vision, the S95B does an excellent job when it comes to HDR10+. In the film 1917, the scene where the soldier wakes up at night is particularly impressive, with perfect blacks, detailed shadows, and brightly lit flares that punctuate the dark sky.

The S95B offers a host of features aimed at next-gen gamers, including VRR (variable refresh rate) for syncing the TV’s refresh rate with the console’s frame rate to reduce tearing. There’s also support for 4K/120Hz high frame rate, plus AMD Freesync Premium Pro.

There’s ALLM for automatically detecting a console and selecting the Game mode, which results in a class-leading input lag of 9ms. There’s also Motion Xcelerator Turbo Pro tech, Game Motion Plus, and support for 21:9 and 32:9 ultra-wide aspect ratios offered by a number of PC games.

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The Game Bar 2.0 hub brings all the game-related information and features together in one convenient location. It pops up automatically when a game console is detected, but can also be selected manually and includes HDR, frame rate, and VRR info, plus gaming picture adjustments.

The performance with games is generally impressive, producing images that are bright, clean, and detailed, while the motion is buttery smooth. The HDR tone mapping can be a little aggressive in game mode, resulting in some clipping of highlights, but if you dial it back the HDR has real pop.

Verdict

The Samsung S95B is an impressive performer, and utilises the manufacturer’s new QD-OLED TV technology to its full potential. The resulting images are accurate right out of the box, while the saturated colours and brighter highlights ensure some of the best HDR seen on an OLED.

As you’d expect from an OLED, the blacks are flawless, the shadow detail is excellent, and the motion handling impressive. The HDR with games can be a little over-the-top, but thanks to a host of cutting-edge features, the S95B delivers an awesome next-gen gaming experience.

The design is eye-catching, but the ridiculously thin panel feels a bit flimsy. There’s also little room for speakers, which compromises sound quality, although there’s still Dolby Atmos, and the operating system is sluggish, but offers a comprehensive selection of streaming apps and smart features.

Overall, the S95B marks an impressive return to the OLED TV market for Samsung. It offers a winning combination of design, class-leading technology and features; and thanks to some recent price drops, the S95B is also a bargain compared to Sony’s competing A95K QD-OLED.