Hands on: Samsung QN990F 8K TV review

8K is, for all intents and purposes, the marmite of the TV world. But, whether you love it or hate it, Samsung is continuing its mission to make 8K TVs mainstream, despite the well-known lack of available native 8K content. The cart-and-horse / chicken-and-egg analogy is used a lot in the 8K discussion but, in reality, it doesn’t matter to Samsung. It’s been consistently delivering 8K sets to consumers for seven years, and even we couldn’t resist the charm of the excellent QN900D last year.

Naturally, Samsung has a new flagship 8K to show us, and after a few fleeting moments with the set in Seoul and Las Vegas, we finally have the opportunity to spend some quality time with it in Frankfurt, Germany.

So, what do we think of it? As is the case with every hands-on review that we conduct, deciding on a verdict is impossible until the QN990F lands in our dedicated TV testing facility. That being said, we can share our first impressions of the highest-end model in Samsung’s 2025 TV range.

Price

We don’t have pricing information for the QN990F — which isn’t to be confused with the HW-Q990F Dolby Atmos soundbar package, despite the very similar name — however, we expect it to be fairly costly considering it sits atop Samsung’s upcoming TV lineup.

Based on the price of the Award-winning QN900D from 2024, we expect the 65-inch QN990F to cost £6650 / $6299 / AU$8999. Though we of course hope that Samsung surprises us by dropping prices.

Build

The QN990F looks practically identical to the model it replaces, which is no great shame considering how sleek the QN900D looks. Having spent a long weekend with the set as the star of our Bristol Hi-Fi Show demo, we quickly came to appreciate the slender and stylish chassis of the TV.

It features squared-off edges and a uniform thickness throughout, making it ideal for wall-mounting. Samsung achieves this slender and consistent form factor by utilising the One Connect system, which houses the connections in a separate box. While we’re familiar with One Connect at this point, Samsung has thrown a huge curveball this year by making it wireless, much like how LG has done with the M4 Wireless OLED TV.

That eliminates the unsightly cable from the equation, making the TV appear even neater and sleeker, and Samsung promises that this change won’t affect performance. During a behind-the-scenes look at the set in South Korea, it even demonstrated the ability to hide the wireless One Connect box in a cabinet without it losing connection.

While the QN990F looks premium, it doesn’t look nearly as interesting as Samsung’s step-down 8K TV, the QN900F, which has a frame-inspired metal bezel and dual-blade feet. While we certainly don’t disapprove of the flagship model's looks, we can’t help but feel like its more stylish step-down sibling overshadows it.

Features

We might have mentioned it once or twice already, but in case you hadn’t noticed, this is an 8K TV. That means the Mini LED panel featured on the set has over 33 million pixels to take advantage of for a sharper image; though as we’ve already hinted at, there is very little dedicated 8K content out there aside from a few YouTube videos.

Instead, we're relying on the QN990F to masterfully upscale the streaming services, Blu-rays and video games that we watch or play now in order to feel the benefit of the 8K panel.

Samsung is once again boasting about its AI upscaling capabilities with this TV, and based on our experience with the QN900D’s, we understand why.

The new QN990F utilises Samsung’s NQ8 Gen 3 Processor, which incorporates 768 neural networks to empower a variety of picture features. Upscaling was already impressive on last year’s flagship 8K, and it was a vital aspect of its success. It’s supposedly even better this year, with AI Upscaling Pro putting in a shift to bring content up to the 8K standard.

AI Gamma is new for 2025, and it will intelligently adjust the gamma curve to suit the content you’re watching as well as the room you’re watching your TV in, thanks to the onboard ambient light sensor. This will reportedly improve dark details, and reduce detail clipping and black crush in high and low-brightness scenes respectively.

Samsung also says that this year’s flagship model includes double the dimming zones of its predecessor, which should result in improved lighting control – we're therefore expecting deeper blacks and less blooming.

On to gaming specs, and we have to return to the previously mentioned Wireless One Connect box, which includes four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets. These are reportedly capable of handling up to 4K/144Hz or 8K/60Hz signals with VRR and ALLM, and the wireless aspect shouldn’t introduce any unwanted latency issues according to Samsung.

If you don’t plan on hooking a console up to this TV, then the built-in gaming streaming functions courtesy of Samsung’s Tizen operating system will suffice, as Xbox Game Pass steals the spotlight with near-console-quality games that can be streamed directly to the TV.

As for the key AV features, it’s a familiar story. Practically all of Samsung’s premium sets follow the same formula: HDR comes in the HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG formats, but no Dolby Vision. Dolby Atmos audio is supported. New for 2025, however, is Samsung’s new immersive audio format, Eclipsa Audio. Developed in partnership with Google, this new immersive audio format is an open-source alternative to Atmos and will launch first on YouTube to allow content creators to enhance their videos with spatial audio.

There’s no word on whether any other services will be picking up support, and for now, it remains a Samsung-exclusive feature.

Finally, Samsung is bringing its Glare Free panel technology to the QN990F, which features swapping to a matte display that seeks to eliminate pesky reflections and intrusions from ambient light. We approved this feature on the S95D, so we're keen to see how it's implemented on other TVs in Samsung's range.

Picture

Our hands-on demos were much more thorough than we’re used to, which allowed us to delve deeper into the TV. We had roughly an hour with the QN990F, during which time we could log into streaming services and change settings. We watched a variety of 4K and HD content on Netflix, including Top Gun: Maverick, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery and Interstellar, and while this isn’t enough to draw a final conclusion on the TV, we have a handful of early thoughts to share.

First and foremost, the QN990F appeared to present a clear, sharp and bright picture overall, as seen in the opening sequence of Top Gun: Maverick. Fighter jets are presented with sharp outlines, while the uniforms worn by the crew of the aircraft carrier feature plenty of detail. The highlights of the sun peaking through the clouds and reflecting on the ocean were dazzling,

Colours also appeared to be punchy and vibrant, with the scene in which the group meets in Greece in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery featuring deep blues, and rich hues on each of the individual’s outfits. We toggled the dynamic tone mapping feature on and off during our brief testing session and found it to carry both positive and negative aspects. It brightened the image up and added some needed pop, though it does so at the expense of some subtly and balance.

Sticking with the positives, we move on to Interstellar in HD and are generally pleased with how the TV upscales the content. It’s by no means perfect, but the added sharpness and solidity are appreciated, especially on intricately detailed objects such as the crew’s spacesuits. There were a few hiccups here, such as a wide shot of some rippling waves moving in differing directions that featured some fuzz.

An area in which we were less impressed by the QN990F was the local dimming, as the TV features some discernible backlight adjusting that became quite hard to ignore during our hands-on session. In Glass Onion, we saw the TV lower and raise the brightness noticeably as a scene frequently cut between two characters talking. The scene takes place in a bright environment, though the background is a night sky, so we see how the TV might have got confused, but that doesn't make it forgivable.

Furthermore, we saw clear ghosting and halo effects in Top Gun: Maverick, specifically in the control room during the 'Mach 10' sequence. As Admiral Cain burst through the door, we could see a pale aura surround and follow him as he leaned forward. Furthermore, there was a glow around each individual in the control room.

Ultimately, this TV will require further testing at a later date. Perhaps more tweaking of the settings might solve our above issues.

Sound

We’re yet to hear the QN990F’s built-in speakers, as the handful of times we’ve seen this TV it’s either been set to mute, or it’s had a soundbar attached. In this instance, it was the latter, as Samsung had paired the new 8K with its convertible HW-Q700F ‘bar.

We’ll have to wait until we review the TV ourselves to assess its sound capabilities.

Early verdict

It’s too early to make any definitive decisions regarding the QN990F, but the early signs are promising. Upscaling is a crucial aspect of any 8K TV, so it’s encouraging to see Samsung continue to advance its impressive, AI-based approach.

We approve of its crisp, bright and punchy picture so far, though we do have some concerns regarding blooming and the fluctuating backlight. We’ll need to get the QN990F into our AV testing facility to pass any final judgment, so only time will tell if this is another Award-winning 8K set.

More:

Read our full Samsung QN900D review

Check out our picks for the best Samsung TVs

And read our full Samsung S95D review