We went to Sydney a few weeks ago with our Samsung pals, who just dropped their entire 2026 AI TV lineup – and there’s SO many different options for your next telly purchase. How to pick? Well, based on your fave TV watching habits, of course! Here’s our guide for how to choose the best Samsung TV for you and your household!
Look, buying a new TV used to be simple – you walked into Noel Leeming, pointed at the biggest one you could afford and you got on with your life. Those days are gone, darls – and sure, there’s more to understand about different TVs, but considering how much of your life you spend plonked in front of one? You deserve the BEST.
I was guided around a room seeing all of the different models, and I couldn’t believe the difference between models because I guess I’ve never really taken the time to compare them? (I’m also operating on a Samsung from 2008 which is still going strong, but perhaps doesn’t quite measure up to what technology can do nowadays!) So we’re doing this the old fashioned way and some would argue, the best way. Remember those Cosmo quizzes that told you what kind of girlfriend you were based on whether you preferred brunch or dinner?
Yeah, we’ve gone with the same energy here (write what you love, right?!) except instead of finding out you’re a ‘passionate but unpredictable Scorpio lover’, you’re going to find out which Samsung TV was made for the way you actually watch things.
Every single TV in this lineup runs Samsung’s Vision AI Companion, which is basically a very smart friend who lives inside your television and helps you find stuff to watch, sorts out dodgy picture quality on older content, and tweaks the sound depending on what’s happening on screen.
Right, let’s figure out who you are.
Before that, what’s the Difference Between LED, OLED AND MICRO RGB? Ok, so LED is your solid all-rounder where a backlight sits behind the screen and lights everything up, which does a great job but can mean dark scenes look a little washed out because the light bleeds through. OLED ditches the backlight entirely and each pixel makes its own light, so when something is meant to be black it just switches off completely, which is why those moody prestige dramas look SO good on one. And then Micro RGB is the new kid that takes that same idea even further, with each pixel having its own tiny red, green and blue LED, so you get that perfect black PLUS colours that are so precise and vivid it genuinely looks like someone cleaned your eyeballs. The price goes up accordingly, obviously, but now you know why.
Are you the person who noticed the colour grading changed between seasons three and four of Game of Thrones? Do you have opinions about dynamic range that you share at dinner parties whether anyone asked or not? Have you ever paused a show just to appreciate a single shot?
If you’re nodding along, you’re The Gal Who Knows Her Tech and is Bloody Proud Of Herself About It and you want the: Samsung Micro RGB (R95 and R85 Series)
Ok we’re starting big and don’t panic, this is the crème de la crème so if it’s outside your price point, relax. This is the best TV Samsung makes – and I was absolutely gagged by how clear, how colourful and how crisp it was. Each pixel controls its own red, green and blue light independently, so you see colours most TVs physically cannot produce. If you’ve been watching A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and thought the candlelit scenes looked muddy, this fixes that. Every torch flicker, every shadow, every costume thread suddenly visible. For the Bridgerton girlies who rewatched Season 4 twice (Benedict and Sophie had me in a chokehold), imagine those masquerade scenes with this kind of accuracy.
Also, the new Glare Free tech was WILD – you can watch in a bright room without the screen washing out and you don’t need to close the curtains.
From $4,699 (the 115″ is more than $42,000… I mean, if you’re opening a sports bar!?)
Are you already calculating what ungodly hour the All Whites vs Belgium kick-off will be in New Zealand time? Is your ideal Saturday flipping between rugby, netball, football and whatever F1 race is on? Did you actually tear up when Chris Wood and the boys qualified at Eden Park last year? No? Just me?
If you’re agreeing with all of this you’re The Sports Obsessed Gal Who Wants Their Lounge to Be ON the Pitch, so for you, it’s either the Samsung S95H OLED (the big spender) or Neo QLED QN80H / QN70H (the smart spender).
The All Whites are going to their first World Cup since 2010 in a few weeks and Chris Wood didn’t battle back from knee surgery to have you watching him on some TV from 2018 that makes the grass look grey!
If money is not the main concern, go for the S95H OLED. It has AI Football Mode Pro which reads the match in real time – meaning the ball stays sharp during fast passes, pitch colours look vivid and the stadium sound wraps around your living room (I don’t know why it’s called Football Mode, it works fab across all sports?!) AND through the sound controller, you can even turn off the commentary and just hear the crowd noise to really feel like you’re there – or vice versa. Glare Free is new this year so daytime World Cup games won’t wash out, and the gaming setup means your EA Sports FC sessions between matches will be buttery smooth.
If you want the sports goods without OLED money, the Neo QLED is honestly just as good. It handles bright pitches and dark shadows in the same frame without one drowning out the other, colours stay accurate at full brightness, and it still has AI Football Mode.
From $1,599
Are you physically incapable of having a big black rectangle on your wall when it’s not turned on? Have you ever described your living room as having ‘a mood’? Did you spend more time choosing your sofa than your last car?
If you’re saying yes that’s me, you’re The Aesthete and your perfect telly is the Frame Pro.
Ah, my dream TV that one day, I am determined, I will own – but now they’ve only gone and made it even better. The Frame Pro exists because Samsung understood that some people, like me, do not want a TV – they want a piece of art that occasionally shows Rivals Season 2 (I cannot WAIT for that to premiere).
At 24.9mm thin it sits almost flush to your wall and will display one of the more than 5,000 curated artworks when you’re not watching – colours faithful to the originals, not that slightly-off digital look. The real game changer is Wireless One Connect: all cables go to a separate box you hide in a cabinet – nothing dangling! If your Pinterest board has ever included ‘minimalist Scandi living room’ this will speak to your soul.
Also, it’s worth mentioning that Samsung have now figured out that Art Mode wasn’t just a feature people liked, it’s something people truly connect with. So, they’ve made Art Store available across 90% of our TV range on four technologies – Micro RGB, OLED, Neo QLED and QLED, so even if you don’t have a Frame, you can access this feature.
From $2,499
Are you currently watching Perfect Match Season 4 AND Survivor 50 AND have Calabasas Confidential bookmarked for the end of the month? Do you have a dedicated group chat for reality TV hot takes? Have you ever stayed up until 3am because you ‘just needed to see who got eliminated’?
If that’s you you’re The Reality TV Junkie and can I humbly recommend the Samsung S90H OLED
Here’s the thing about reality shows that people don’t think about: the lighting matters. Those confessional booth scenes with moody dark backgrounds and a single spotlight on someone crying about a rose ceremony? You need a TV that shows proper, deep blacks – not dark grey pretending. The S90H OLED does exactly that, and this year Samsung added the Glare Free so you can watch during the day, blinds open, scrolling your phone for reactions. It also separates dialogue from background music in real time, so when someone whispers something devastating at a cocktail party on The Bachelor you actually hear it without rewinding three times.
Sizes down to 42 inches, perfect as a bedroom TV for watching The Traitors Season 3 with AirPods in because your partner cannot deal with another elimination (or, in my case, watching my husband ON Traitors Season 3… more to come on that one!). This TV will make all those tears look beautiful. I hope.
From $3,799
Are you the person who never actually gets to choose what’s on because someone else always has the remote? Does your TV need to handle Bluey at 7am, the World Cup at 2pm and a prestige drama at 9pm without complaining? Have you ever described yourself as ‘the UN negotiator of screen time’ in your household?
If you’re saying yes, that’s us, then you’re clearly the Family All-Rounder and for you, we have the perfect budget-conscious but hard-working Samsung Mini LED M80H / M70H.
Your TV works harder than any other in this lineup – think kids’ shows with insane colour, sport with fast motion and then something moody after bedtime. The Mini LED range handles all of it without breaking your budget. The M80H keeps gaming smooth for the kids and separates voices from background noise so you can watch Good Omens Season 3 while someone does dishes without cranking volume to 47 and waking the toddler.
The M70H starts at $1,099 for 43 inches if you want something reliably great without all the extras. Both go up to 85 inches.
From $1,099
Are you the type who watches something different in every room of the house depending on your mood? Do you WFH from the couch, the kitchen island and occasionally the deck, all in the same day? Have you ever wished you could just pick up your TV and take it with you?
All yes’s? You’re the Nomad and the new, jazzy Samsung Movingstyle is perfect for you!
Now you literally CAN move the TV. The Movingstyle is Samsung’s wildcard, and I think it’s genuinely going to be a game changer for Kiwi households where rooms need to be multi-purpose. It’s a 27-inch touchscreen that detaches from a rollable floor stand, has a built-in battery lasting up to three hours, and goes wherever you go. Recipe tutorials on the kitchen bench, Hacks Season 5 while folding laundry, out on the deck for a Friday evening Wahs game. No remote needed – which is great because you lost yours three house-moves ago.
