The successor to the five-star Samsung S95D QD-OLED TV appears to have leaked, and there is both good news and bad news. Of course, we must stress that we're taking these claims with a big pinch of salt, as nothing is official until Samsung unveils its 2025 TV lineup; which we expect will happen at CES 2025, based on previous years.
First circulated on Reddit and then verified by FlatPanelsHD (who we consider to be a reliable source), Samsung's next QD-OLED flagship will be called the S95F, not the S95E as we had anticipated. It's unclear why Samsung has skipped a letter in its lineup, though it's not a wholly uncommon practice – remember that Hisense jumped from the U8K to the U8N, for example.
Furthermore, the S95F is billed to come in a new size previously unseen in this range, or in any other QD-OLED TVs for that matter. Samsung is slated to release this flagship TV with an 83-inch screen size, and that's bigger news than it may first appear. Before this, QD-OLED panels had only been produced in three sizes – 55-, 65- and 77 inches – meaning the production of brighter OLED displays could be expanding.
This could have a knock-on effect on other TVs that use QD-OLED panels, such as Samsung's step-down S90 model (presumably the S90F for next year) as well as the successor to the Sony A95L (providing one is in the works).
However, there is a huge caveat to be aware of, and it unfortunately involves one of our least favourite aspects of Samsung's 2024 TV lineup. Remember the hugely controversial OLED lottery? If you're not up to date with that, it centres around Samsung mixing QD-OLED and OLED panels in the S90D range without disclosing to customers which one they might receive; that means two people buying a 65-inch Samsung S90D could, in theory, get two differently capable TVs especially where brightness is concerned.
The S95D never encountered this issue, as it was staunchly QD-OLED-only; however, that might be about to change. FlatPanelsHD has identified two versions of the 83-inch S95F with different model codes in the Samsung Parts Database – these are 'QD83S95FAE' and 'QE83S95FAT'. You'll notice that, while these numbers are nearly identical, one ends in 'FAE' while the other ends in 'FAT'.
That's because the 'FAE' variant refers to a WRGB OLED (otherwise known as W-OLED, or traditional OLED) whereas the 'FAT' signifies Quantum Dot OLED (QD-OLED). While we'll refrain from getting frustrated quite yet – remember that this information hasn't been verified with Samsung itself – we'd be incredibly disheartened if Samsung does indeed extend the OLED lottery system to its flagship TV.
Samsung has previously said this when it has been questioned about the OLED lottery system: "We’re continually evolving our TV portfolio to provide our customers with new and exciting innovations and experiences. Samsung OLED TVs consistently offer a premium experience while delivering excellent viewing performance, regardless of the specific panels that are integrated into the product." That being said, having a TV that hypothetically performs differently on a case-by-case basis is very tricky to recommend, as the model we see in our AV testing room may perform differently from the model you buy.
Only time will tell if this is the case, and we eagerly await the reveal of Samsung's full 2025 TV lineup next year, in which many more aspects of this mystery TV could be unveiled.
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