Samsung S90F review: this fantastic OLED TV gets nearly everything right – apart from the price

Introduction

Samsung has been quick out of the blocks with its 2025 range of 4K TVs, and the company’s recent refound infatuation with OLED technology shows no signs of weakening. The S90F is the step down from the range-topping S95F – but that’s not the same as saying it’s in any way compromised on the spec sheet.

And with a huge number of screen sizes – the S90F is yours in 42in, 48in, 55in, 77in and 83in varieties in addition to the 65in I’m testing here – one of ’em is sure to be the perfect Samsung OLED TV for you…  

Design and build: the big (anti-reflective) black

Imagine if I started writing about what a radical departure the design of the QE65S90F was. That would be a turn-up, wouldn’t it? Well, that excitement will have to wait for another day, because the QE65S90F – predictably and very sensibly – looks exactly as you’d expect. It’s a large black rectangle, sitting on quite a compact rectangular stand, and it’s way, way slimmer than it is tall or wide. It looks like a television.

The bezels surrounding the screen are slim and unobtrusive. The pedestal stand (which doesn’t swivel) clips, rather than screws, into place – and because it’s less than 30cm square it means the S90F doesn’t need a particular big surface to stand on. Wall-mounters will be pleased to learn that the screen is less than 4cm at its deepest point, and is also VESA-compliant. And the S90F has Samsung’s ‘anti-reflection’ screen treatment, which means that it can significantly reduce glare bounce-back from any light source. 

Build quality is well up to the standard Samsung established ages ago, so the S90F feels properly put together and built to last. It’s worth noting that the plastics used for the majority of the frame don’t feel anything special – although unless you’re in the business of constantly touching your TV that’s unlikely to be much of an issue. The lack of any cable-management on the rear of the screen might be more of a consideration, though, especially if you want to hang it on the wall. 

Features: AI all the way

Yes, the QE65S90F is a 4K QD-OLED panel with HDR compatibility all the way to HDR10+ Adaptive. Yes, it’s able to deal with Dolby Atmos soundtracks using its 60-watt, 2.1.2-channel integrated audio system. And yes, every one of its four HDMI inputs is at 2.1 standard, which means that each one can deal with 144Hz, Freesync Premium Pro, ALLM, HGiG, G-Sync and all the other stuff PC and console gamers are interested in. But what Samsung would like you to know, more than any of this, is that the S90F is All About AI.

It shares the full-on NQ4 AI Gen 3 picture processing engine with the range-topping S95F, and this brings a whole lot of AI-centric features into play. There’s 4K AI Upscaling Pro, which makes use of 128 Neural networks while it’s doing its thing. There’s AI Motion Enhancer Pro, AI Colour Booster Pro, AI Customisation and AI Optimisation. Turn them all on if you like overcooked colours and brightness to the point that you’ll find yourself squinting.

AI Sound is, inevitably, involved with the audio system here, as are Adaptive Sound Pro and Active Voice Amplifier Pro. The S90F features Samsung’s object-tracking sound (OTS) technology, which – hey! – attempts to move sound around the soundstage in response to on-screen movement. And it’s compatible with Q Symphony too – so if you connect an appropriate soundbar then the TV’s audio system can remain part of the sonic presentation.

And did you doubt there would be AI Auto Game Mode too? Of course you didn’t. Yes, this is a television with every feature you’d expect at the asking price – and with extra AI on top.       

Interface: the seven-year switch

Samsung’s Tizen smart TV interface has been one of the most logical, most easy-to-navigate and most fully stocked around, and for its implementation here it remains all of those things. There’s plenty of content available from every high-profile streaming service and catch-up TV provider, and from this year Samsung is promising to offer seven years of OS upgrades free of charge. Which means your S90F should remain at the cutting edge, at least OS-wise, until well into the next decade.

Navigating the smart TV interface, as well as some clear and straightforward set-up menus, can be done in a number of ways. Amazon Alexa voice control is available (as is Bixby, for the profoundly weird), and there are two remote controls provided. One is reasonably small, made of hard and cheap-feeling plastic, and covers every eventuality, while the other is smaller still, made of hard and cheap-feeling plastic, and covers just the most common controls. 

The S90F is a SmartThings hub, which means not only can it be controlled by using the SmartThings app (free for iOS and Android) but it can become part of a wider SmartThings network very easily. The SmartThings app wants to know chapter and verse about you, though, so while Samsung’s inclusion of Knox Security is welcome it’s also a bit of a giveaway.

There’s a very worthwhile gaming interface here, too. Game Bar does everything you’d expect – mini-map, zoom-in, aim-point and so on – and in addition it offers flexible aspect ratios, including 32:9 and 21:9. A check on input lag and HDR status without having to move away from the on-screen action is very welcome, too. 

Performance: bright up your life

Brightness – or a lack of it – used to be the reason to choose some other TV technology over OLED, but not any more. The Samsung QE65S90F is an impressive television in many respects, but what’s most immediately obvious (and actually quite startling) is just how bright it’s capable of being. Want to watch your nice new TV in a brightly lit room? The S90F can cope with no problems whatsoever.

It generates this brightness without losing any composure or control over the white tones it’s producing. They’re varied and detailed, and when they share the screen with those typically deep OLED black tones, it means contrasts are starkly impressive. The fact that these blacks are just as loaded with information as the white tones doesn’t do any harm to your viewing pleasure, either – and the anti-reflective treatment Samsung has applied to the screen means the S90F is much less inclined to return glare to you than some alternative TVs I could mention.

Those excellent detail levels are apparent in every circumstance, in fact – no matter if you’re watching a 4K UHD Blu-ray disc of Dune or playing a PS5 version of Gran Turismo 7, the colour palette is incredibly wide-ranging. There’s a stack of information about tone and texture made available, too – its colour balance is vibrant and energetic, but balanced and naturalistic at the same time. The S90F has no problem dealing with tight, complicated patterns and it defines edges with real confidence. Depth of field is apparent, and motion-control is positive and accomplished too – even if you’re watching televised football (for example), the fact that there are multiple directions of on-screen travel, combined with camera movement, all happening on a fairly uniform colour of background, doesn’t faze the Samsung in the slightest.

There are plenty of opportunities for you to mess with the picture balance here, of course – as well as quite in-depth set-up menus, the numerous picture presets run from too bright (labelled Dynamic) to much too dim (otherwise known as Filmmaker mode). But despite the option to finesse the way the S90F performs, at its heart it always remains a dynamic, high-contrast, detailed and beautifully controlled watch.

It’s also a very adept upscaler – to a point. All the good stuff about its picture-making abilities applies to 1080p content, and it’s even prepared to have a stab at making 720p stuff look watchable too – although it can’t prevent detail levels falling away and some softness creeping in. Step down from there, though, and the Samsung does rather throw in the towel – there’s a limit to the amount of information it’s able to invent, it turns out. Mind you, it’s far from alone in being unable to fill a 3840×2160 screen with 640×480-worth of information with any kind of success.

The story – or, at least, the good part of it – is much the same for gaming. The breadth of the colour palette, the fine facility with contrasts, the excellent peak brightness and the secure motion handling all make for an absorbing experience. Response times are very rapid indeed, and the suggestion that you’ll ever suffer any stuttering or tearing is obvious nonsense.

It’s not anything like as accomplished when it comes to sound, of course – there are very, very few TVs that don’t say ‘Technics’ or ‘Bowers & Wilkins’ on them somewhere that can deliver audio quality that’s on a par with video quality. The QE65S90F’s sound system is far from a catastrophe – there’s little of the hardness or edginess that some rivals indulge in, and it projects voices quite well. It’s predictably short of low-end substance, though, and its flimsy treble isn’t much fun either. A Samsung Q Symphony soundbar would seem to be in order…    

Samsung QE65S90F verdict

Let’s face it: the TV market is weird. So if I suggest the Samsung QE65S90F looks expensive, you know as well as I do that this doesn’t really matter because it’ll be a fair bit cheaper before much longer.

So I’ll just confirm that this is a very accomplished television for every aspect of picture-making, sounds less than dreadful (which is definitely a positive), has a great smart TV interface and is built to last. As long as you don’t intend to pay full whack, it’s well worth looking at.  

Samsung QE65S90F technical specifications

Screen size	42in, 48in, 55in, 65in (version tested) 77in, 83in
Resolution	3840×2160
HDR formats	HDR10+ Adaptive
Inputs	4x HDMI 2.1, digital optical audio, 2x USB
Smart TV	Tizen
Dimensions	1443x832x40mm, 21.2kg (panel only) 1444x897x265mm, 22.5kg (with stand)