If you’ve got your heart set on a Samsung-branded TV, there’s a good chance you’ll be choosing between two types: QLED and OLED.
These terms refer to the TV’s display technology, and depending on your budget, your viewing habits and your overall lifestyle, one might be better than the other.
With this in mind, I’ve put together an overview of how Samsung QLEDs and OLEDs compare to one another — from price to performance and everything in between.
Whether you’re looking for an affordable set or one of the best TVs money can buy, it all starts with the display. Here’s what you need to know about Samsung QLED TVs vs Samsung OLED TVs.
Samsung QLED vs Samsung OLED: overview and price
Samsung QLEDs are LED TVs with quantum dots. These nanocrystals enhance color and brightness, and while they’re quite common these days, not all TVs leverage them. For all intents and purposes, you can consider them a bit of a bonus; not all QLEDs are created equal, but it’s typically better if your LED TV uses them than if they didn’t.
One of the main reasons why Samsung QLEDs vary in price and performance has to do with the type of backlighting at work. Entry-level QLEDs (like the Samsung Q60D) often use LEDs alongside the edge of the panel. It doesn’t cost that much to manufacture, but from a performance standpoint, contrast and overall picture quality is less impressive.
Mid-range Samsung QLEDs (like the Q80D) are equipped with LED backlights and employ something called local dimming, which allows the display to brighten and dim separate areas of the picture independently. As you can imagine, this allows for tighter contrast control than an edge-lit QLED (or a backlit QLED without local dimming).
And then there are high-end Samsung QLEDs, which the brand refers to as Neo QLED TVs. These TVs implement Mini-LEDs, which are exactly what the name suggests: ultra-small LEDs that can be grouped together in far more zones than standard LED backlights.
Due to the sophisticated nature of this hardware, Samsung Neo QLEDs (like the Samsung QN90D) are among the best — and priciest — LED TVs on the market.
Like all OLED TVs, Samsung OLEDs don’t rely on LED backlights at all.
Like all OLED TVs, Samsung OLEDs don’t rely on LED backlights at all. Instead, every individual pixel is self-lit. As you’ll soon learn, this has tremendous cascading effects on almost every aspect of performance, with contrast being the big one.
Unlike Samsung QLEDs, however, there are fewer Samsung OLEDs to choose from, and their price range isn’t nearly as expansive. As I write this, the most affordable Samsung OLED on the market (the Samsung S85D) will set you back about $1,200 for a 55-inch model. The most affordable, 55-inch Samsung QLED (the Q60D) is currently $550.
Samsung QLED vs Samsung OLED: design
If buying a super-slim Samsung TV is one of your top priorities, you’ll find candidates in both categories. Samsung OLEDs, however, are much slimmer than Samsung QLEDs due to the fact that the panel doesn’t have to make room for LEDs. Samsung’s latest flagship, the S95D OLED, features a panel that’s under an inch thick. It’s quite a head-turning design.
Higher-end Samsung Neo QLEDs are typically svelte due to their upscale engineering. Lower-end Samsung QLEDs that rely on edge lights can be remarkably thin, too, but this is because of their rather rudimentary hardware.
Pay close attention to stand type, especially if you plan on placing one of the best soundbars in front of your Samsung TV. In recent years, the brand’s OLED TVs have relied on a pedestal-style stand — usually a heavy metal plate — that sits below the center of the screen and offers enough clearance for a soundbar. This has also been the case with recent Neo QLEDs.
Mid-range and entry-level Samsung QLEDs, on the other hand, often rely on a pair of wide-set feet that prop the panel up. For some of these sets, these feet can be attached in a higher configuration specifically to accommodate soundbars. Be sure to check before you buy.
Samsung QLED vs Samsung OLED: features
Like all TVs, the amount of features you get with a Samsung QLED or Samsung OLED depends on how much you spend: If you buy a top-shelf Neo QLED or Samsung OLED, you’re getting what I would call a full spread of features for gaming and beyond. These TVs offer HDMI 2.1 compatibility across all four inputs for 4K gaming at 120Hz, 144Hz or 165Hz. Other gaming enhancements include Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) and AMD FreeSync support.
If you move further down the Samsung QLED line, gaming features vary, starting with HDMI 2.1 support. Lower-end Samsung QLEDs might also be limited to 60Hz, which would make 4K gaming at 120Hz out of the question.
There are two things that Samsung QLEDs and OLEDs have in common, however, regardless of price point: None of them support Dolby Vision (a popular, proprietary HDR format) and all of them run on Samsung’s Tizen-based operating system.
Higher-end Samsung TVs feature a more fluid software experience.
You can read more about whether or not you need Dolby Vision and decide if this is a deal-breaker for you. As for Samsung’s Tizen OS, here’s what I’ll say: There’s enough app support for it to be viable as your everyday streaming platform, but the overall experience is largely dependent on the processing power of the TV. It stands to reason that higher-end Samsung TVs feature a more fluid software experience.
Samsung QLED vs Samsung OLED: performance
The main difference between these two types of Samsung TVs lies in their performance. But while high-end Samsung TVs tend to perform much better than lower-end sets, you might find that one type suits your needs better than the other when comparing top-tier models.
The main advantage of OLED over any LED TV — regardless of whether or not quantum dots are involved — is the technology’s pixel-level control. Samsung OLEDs can display perfect black levels regardless of content type, and because each pixel is self-illuminated, the picture takes on a strikingly clear look.
Like all OLED TVs, Samsung OLEDs feature some of the widest, most accommodating viewing angles you can buy. If you’re shopping for a large TV and plan on entertaining a crowd, this is important.
But LED TVs are getting better every year, and Samsung’s high-end Neo QLED models in particular can look downright OLED-like depending on the content. With top-tier Samsung Neo QLEDs, you might only notice the backlight at work when bright objects are surrounded by darkness — like a spacecraft moving across a starfield, for instance.
Not all Samsung QLEDs are brighter than the brand’s OLED TVs, but as you move up the QLED lineup, you’re more likely to encounter a set that gets as bright or brighter than the company’s best OLED TV. With the newest flagship Neo QLED, the Samsung QN90D, we measured a peak brightness of around 2,000 to 2,100 nits, while the top-performing OLED, the Samsung S95D, clocked in at around 1,700 to 1,800 nits.
One important thing to keep in mind is that these are measurements of highlight brightness — small, concentrated areas of the picture that might manifest in real-world content as a sharp reflection of sunlight off the hood of a car, for example. Full-screen brightness is a different story. When taking the entire picture into consideration, Samsung QLEDs tend to be much brighter on average. This means that they’re much better equipped to overcome ambient light.
So, how do you decide which is right for you?
Samsung QLED vs Samsung OLED: outlook
If you’re trying to decide between high-end Neo QLEDs and Samsung OLED TVs, your decision should lean more heavily on your viewing habits.
If you’re working within a strict budget — say, under $1,000 — you’ll probably have an easier time shopping for a Samsung QLED, as there are far more options at your disposal. You could always shop for last-year’s OLEDs, but even then, you’ll most likely have to commit to a smaller-sized OLED to stay under $1,000.
If you're trying to keep things in a budget, you're probably limited to QLED. Mid-range models will likely offer more sophisticated display hardware, like LED backlighting with full-array local dimming. Entry-level models will save you some cash, but you might not get the sort of performance and features you’re looking for.
If you’re trying to decide between high-end Neo QLEDs and Samsung OLED TVs, your decision should lean more heavily on your viewing habits and the nature of your living space. If you want a large TV to entertain a crowd and you’re concerned about off-axis viewing, that might be a point in OLED’s favor. If your living room gets a ton of sunlight and you watch TV primarily during the day, a bright, punchy QLED might suit you better.
In other words, once you cross into the upper tier of Samsung TVs, the QLED vs OLED debate becomes more about your needs and personal preferences, and less about your budget.
