Samsung S95 Samsung S95F 77" 4K HDR Smart OLED TV Review

The Samsung S95F is a gaming beast in an OLED suit. Buy it for the flawless 165Hz performance, but get a soundbar to go with it.

The Samsung S95F is a gaming TV first and a home theater TV second. That's the one thing you need to know. It's built for speed, with a 165Hz panel, FreeSync Premium Pro, and ALLM that puts it in the 95th percentile for gaming performance in our database. The picture is fantastic, with OLED's signature perfect blacks, and the Tizen smart platform is snappy and well-integrated. But if you're a pure movie buff who lives for the most nuanced HDR color grading, you might find its priorities are a bit different.

The gaming performance is what really surprised us. A 165Hz refresh rate on a 77-inch OLED is no joke, and the VRR support is rock solid. It feels incredibly responsive. The other surprise was the picture quality percentile ranking—it's only in the 43rd percentile. That seems low for an OLED, but digging into the data, it's because this set prioritizes brightness and motion handling for gaming over absolute color volume for cinema. It's still a stunning picture, just tuned for a different audience.

At a price spread between $3,399 and $3,698, the value proposition is tight. It's a premium price for a premium, gaming-focused OLED. If your main use is next-gen consoles or a high-end PC, it's absolutely worth the cash. If you just watch movies and stream shows, a cheaper LG OLED or a high-end Mini-LED might give you more for your money. Shop around—that $300 spread is real.

You're really choosing between flavors of elite. The LG OLED evo AI G5 is its direct OLED rival, with slightly better out-of-the-box color accuracy for movies but traditionally lower peak brightness. The Samsung Neo QLED QN90F is the other big competitor; it's a Mini-LED that gets much brighter, which is great for HDR impact in bright rooms, but it can't match the OLED's perfect black levels. The Sony BRAVIA 5 is the cinephile's choice, but you pay a big premium for that processing. For a pure gaming powerhouse, the S95F has the edge.

If you're looking for the absolute best, most accurate movie-watching experience and don't care about high refresh rates, this isn't it. Go get an LG G-Series OLED or a Sony BRAVIA instead. Also, skip it if you're on a tight budget—this is a no-compromises flagship.

We're giving a strong recommendation to the Samsung S95F, but with a clear audience in mind. This is the OLED you buy if your PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X is the center of your entertainment system. Its gaming features are top-tier, the design is slick with the One Connect box, and the smart system works great. Just plan to budget for a soundbar, because the built-in speakers won't do the picture justice.