I tried Samsung's best new TV and one feature makes the S95D a game-changer
We're only a matter of days into 2024 and already – largely thanks to CES 2024, which is the world's biggest technology showcase – I've seen many of 2024's best TVs already. And while LG's impressive OLED T transparent demonstration won my heart, Samsung's demonstration of its new top-end S95D was the one that won my head given one game-changing new feature.
As I wrote about at the Samsung launch event, the S95D features a new anti-reflective coating, which Samsung calls 'OLED Glare Free' tech. I've long been impressed by how Samsung has been able to implement this, first seen in an altogether more extreme version in the matte-panel The Frame TV. In the S95D it's more subtle, but it's a feature that I never knew I needed – because it's simply fantastic.
At Samsung's First Look preview event, held off-site away from the CES showground, the Korean brand had set up an S95D next to a previous-generation model, with plenty of bright lighting surrounding both sets. I thought the setup seemed genuine, able to show reflections catching equally in both sets. But in the S95D those reflections are far more diffuse thanks to OLED Glare Free and therefore far less distracting overall.
Implementing such a technology is a fine line in gaining the benefit of this anti-reflection benefit, without wildly affecting the overall image quality. After all, the S95D is a QD-OLED TV and the point of that TV tech is to deliver super-deep blacks and colours that pop well beyond what even the best OLED TVs can offer.
Studying the two images side-by-side, I felt that the S95D delivered an image nearly identical to the previous T3 Awards-winning S95C model. That's an impressive feat, and while there may be some discrepancies in overall difference to black depth (I've not measured them, of course), the pay-off in having anti-reflection will be a quiet game-changer for many people. Because, let's face it, people place TVs in rooms that are often affected by multiple light sources a lot of the time.
Interestingly the S95D is discernibly brighter than its S95C predecessor too, so while that would usually be my go-to point of excitement about a new-generation product, this 2024 model (that's where the 'D' is derived from) is able to impress on multiple fronts. Brighter is better, sure, especially when it's so well-controlled by Samsung's TV know-how, but it's the OLED Glare Free anti-reflective coating that really sells this set to me.
Not that you can buy one just yet: there's no current on-sale date for the Samsung S95D, all I know is that it'll come in 55-, 65- and 77-inch size options and, with my 'buest guess' head on, that it'll be pricier than the outgoing S95C option. It'll be worth the extra if reflections are the bane of your TV-viewing life, though, so keep your eyes peeled for its future on-sale date and price...
