The Samsung QN90F is an upper mid-range 4k TV released in 2025. It replaces the Samsung QN90D and sits above the Samsung QN85F and Samsung QN80F. Unlike its predecessor, the QN90F has a matte coating. It uses Samsung's Neo Quantum 4k AI Gen 3 processor, designed to improve performance and deliver better overall picture quality than its predecessor, the 4k AI Gen 2. The TV has 60W 4.2.2CH speakers built in, has four full HDMI 2.1 ports with up to 4k @ 165Hz support, and uses the 2025 version of Samsung's Tizen OS. It has smart features like voice control and a web browser, and it's cast-capable. Like all Samsung TVs, it doesn't support the popular Dolby Vision HDR format, but it does support the similar HDR10+. We bought and reviewed the 75-inch model, but it's available in six other sizes: 43, 50, 55, 65, 85, and 98 inches.
Our Verdict
The Samsung QN90F is a great TV overall, as it excels in most contexts. It's extremely bright in SDR, and it handles reflections amazingly well, making it suitable for very bright rooms when watching sports or shows. Sadly, the TV's colors look a bit more washed out in bright rooms, and it's already not very colorful in SDR. Thankfully, it's extremely bright and colorful in HDR, with very good black levels, making it a very good option in reference conditions, as highlights pop against the TV's very deep blacks. Unfortunately, the TV's black levels suffer in Game Mode, with noticeably slower zone transitions, which offsets the TV's otherwise responsive Game Mode performance.
Very good black levels with little blooming.
Excellent HDR brightness for impactful highlights.
Incredibly bright in SDR.
HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on all four ports, all capable of up to 4k @ 165Hz with VRR support.
Colors are bright and vibrant in HDR.
Black levels are noticeably worse in Game Mode.
Slow pixel transitions in Game Mode leads to blurry motion.
The Samsung QN90F is very good for home theater aficionados. Its black levels are very good, with great contrast that keeps blacks deep even when bright highlights are present. Speaking of highlights, they're extremely bright on this TV due to its excellent HDR peak brightness; this TV really pops in darker rooms. It's also very colorful in HDR, with good color accuracy, although purists might want to get it calibrated. There is some stutter when watching 24 fps content, but it's not excessive. However, there are color artifacts around fast-moving characters and objects, which affect the appearance of motion in action films. Unfortunately, the TV doesn't support Dolby Vision, and it also doesn't passthrough DTS audio formats or Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 through eARC.
Very good black levels with little blooming.
Excellent HDR brightness for impactful highlights.
Impressive low-resolution upscaling.
Colors are bright and vibrant in HDR.
Excellent PQ EOTF tracking.
No Dolby Vision HDR, and no DTS and Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 passthrough.
Okay low-quality content smoothing, but it does leave some compression artifacts in the feed.
Fast-paced scenes and sports have visible artifacts.
Noticeable stutter in slow panning shots.
The Samsung QN90F is excellent for brighter rooms. It's extremely bright in SDR, and it handles direct reflections amazingly well, making the TV suitable for any room condition, no matter how bright. The TV is also quite colorful in HDR, though not as much in SDR; it's still colorful enough for most users. Unfortunately, the TV looks a bit more washed out in brighter rooms, as its low-luminance colors lose some of their saturation in well-lit contexts. Thankfully, its black levels stay mostly very good, as they don't excessively raise in brighter environments.
Incredibly bright in SDR.
Handles direct reflections amazingly well.
Black levels are not too raised in brighter contexts.
Loses some of its color vibrancy in brighter rooms.
The Samsung QN90F is a great choice for sports enthusiasts. It's extremely bright in SDR and handles direct reflections, like from lamps or windows placed directly opposite the TV, amazingly well. Its upscaling is also great, so 720p and 1080p sports from cable or streaming apps look impressive on the TV's 4k screen. Unfortunately, its low-quality content smoothing isn't as good; good enough to clean up low-bitrate sports to some degree, but there's still some macro-blocking left in the feed. Its SDR color accuracy is just mediocre, so your favorite jerseys might not look exactly as you expect. Furthermore, there are unintended intermediate colors around players and objects when the action really ramps up. On the plus side, the TV's viewing angle is decent, especially for an LED TV, making it a satisfactory choice for a wide seating arrangement.
Incredibly bright in SDR.
Handles direct reflections amazingly well.
Impressive low-resolution upscaling.
Relatively wide viewing angle, especially for an LED TV.
Only mediocre pre-calibration SDR accuracy.
Loses some of its color vibrancy in brighter rooms.
Okay low-quality content smoothing, but it does leave some compression artifacts in the feed.
Fast-paced scenes and sports have visible artifacts.
The Samsung QN90F is a very good TV for gaming. It's very responsive due to its low input lag, full VRR support, and up to 4k @ 165Hz gaming. Its pixel transitions are only mediocre, good enough for those already used to gaming on an LED TV, but not fast enough for those used to OLEDs or faster gaming monitors. Thankfully, the TV looks great when gaming due to its high peak brightness in HDR and very colorful panel. Unfortunately, the TV's black levels take a hit when in Game Mode, with noticeably slower zone transitions and backlight control.
Excellent HDR brightness for impactful highlights.
HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on all four ports, all capable of up to 4k @ 165Hz with VRR support.
Colors are bright and vibrant in HDR.
Very low input lag at an resolution or refresh rate.
Black levels are noticeably worse in Game Mode.
Slow pixel transitions in Game Mode leads to blurry motion.
The Samsung QN90F is very bright in any content. In HDR, its brightness is excellent, leading to very bright highlights that pop out of the screen. The TV is also incredibly bright in SDR, enough for any room condition, even very bright ones.
Excellent HDR brightness for impactful highlights.
Incredibly bright in SDR.
The Samsung QN90F has great black levels. Its contrast is great, and it stays deep even when bright highlights are present, with minimal blooming due to its good lighting zone precision. Unfortunately, the TV's black levels take a hit when in Game Mode, with more blooming and noticeably worse zone transitions.
Very good black levels with little blooming.
Black levels are not too raised in brighter contexts.
Black levels are noticeably worse in Game Mode.
The Samsung QN90F has good color performance overall, especially thanks to its excellent HDR color volume; this TV truly pops in HDR, with good accuracy to boot, though purists will likely want to get it professionally calibrated. Unfortunately, it's not nearly as vibrant in SDR, and it's also less accurate there than in HDR; stick to HDR content for the best viewing experience.
Colors are bright and vibrant in HDR.
Only mediocre pre-calibration SDR accuracy.
Lacks some vibrancy in SDR.
The Samsung QN90F has decent motion handling when watching content. It has no judder or micro-judder from any source except those that send 25p content over a 60p signal, which leads to noticeably choppy motion when watching some European shows and movies on an older streaming device. There's no ghosting during transitions, but there are unintended intermediate colors, which make skin tones and other colors look inconsistent in fast-paced scenes and sports. Like any modern TV, there's stutter, so there's some choppiness in scenes with slow camera movements.
Removes judder from almost all sources.
No micro-judder from almost all sources.
Fast-paced scenes and sports have visible artifacts.
Noticeable stutter in slow panning shots.
The Samsung QN90F is very responsive in Game Mode. It has very low input lag, supports every VRR technology, and can play games at up to 4k @ 165Hz. Unfortunately, its pixel transitions are just mediocre; good enough for anyone used to gaming on LED TVs, but a bit slow for anyone used to gaming on OLED panels or faster LED gaming monitors.
HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on all four ports, all capable of up to 4k @ 165Hz with VRR support.
Very low input lag at an resolution or refresh rate.
Slow pixel transitions in Game Mode leads to blurry motion.
Note:We're in the process of improving our tests related to image processing, but this score should give you a general idea of how a TV performs overall with its image processing capabilities.
The Samsung QN90F's image processing is good overall, with impressive low-resolution upscaling. Its HDR brightness accuracy is excellent, and while there's some banding in HDR gradients, it's not very noticeable. Its low-quality content smoothing is okay; it does clean up some compression artifacts, but there's a fair amount remaining in the feed.
Impressive low-resolution upscaling.
Excellent PQ EOTF tracking.
Okay low-quality content smoothing, but it does leave some compression artifacts in the feed.
Performance Usages
Changelog
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Updated Mar 10, 2026:
We added text to our new Motion Handling performance usage and our new Transition Artifacts and Stutter Reduction Via Interpolation test sections after converting the review to TV 2.2.
- Updated Mar 10, 2026: This review has been updated to TV 2.2. We've added new sections for Transition Artifacts and Stutter Reduction Via Interpolation, and updated the way we test Stutter. Additionally, we removed the 'Broken' disclaimer from our Motion Handling usage.
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Updated Oct 22, 2025:
We retested the TV with firmware 1125. We updated the review with improved results in the Black Uniformity, PQ EOTF Tracking, HDR Brightness, HDR Pre-Calibration, and HDR Post-Calibration sections. We also refreshed some text throughout the review to reflect the improvements.
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Updated Oct 21, 2025:
We bought and tested the TCL QM9K and added a comparison in the HDR Brightness section.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We bought and tested the 75-inch Samsung QN90F, and these results also apply to the 55-inch, 65-inch, 85-inch, and 98-inch models. The two smaller models have fewer speakers (20W 2 channels on the 43-inch, 40W 2.2 channels on the 50-inch), and have Neo Quantum HDR instead of Neo Quantum HDR+, which means that they're likely not as bright or as colorful as the bigger models. It's also sold as the Samsung QN90FD at some warehouse retailers, including Costco. The FD variant has a longer warranty but otherwise performs the same. Note that the last five letters in the model number (DFXZA in this case) vary between retailers and individual regions, but there's no difference in performance.
| Size | US Model | Short Model Code | Costco Variant | Neo Quantum HDR+ | Speakers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 43" | QN43QN90FAFXZA | QN43QN90F | - | No | 20W, 2.0 |
| 50" | QN50QN90FAFXZA | QN50QN90F | - | No | 40W, 2.2 |
| 55" | QN55QN90FAFXZA | QN55QN90F | - | Yes | 60W, 4.2.2 |
| 65" | QN65QN90FAFXZA | QN65QN90F | QN65QN90FDFXZA | Yes | 60W, 4.2.2 |
| 75" | QN75QN90FAFXZA | QN75QN90F | QN75QN90FDFXZA | Yes | 60W, 4.2.2 |
| 85" | QN85QN90FAFXZA | QN85QN90F | QN85QN90FDFXZA | Yes | 60W, 4.2.2 |
| 98" | QN98QN90FAFXZA | QN98QN90F | - | Yes | 60W, 4.2.2 |
Our unit was manufactured in February 2025.
Popular TV Comparisons
The Samsung QN90F is a very good TV, and it excels in most use cases, but it's not quite as good as other high-end models from competing brands like the TCL QM9K. It's extremely bright in HDR and SDR, and its matte coating does an amazing job of dealing with any direct light sources. Unfortunately, while it supports 4k @ 165Hz on all four of its HDMI ports, its zone transitions are noticeably worse in Game Mode, making it a tough option for gamers. Ultimately, last year's 2024 Samsung QN90D/QN90DD QLED is a bit better overall, with better contrast, although it loses some of its brightness in Game Mode instead of having slower zone transitions. Still, the QN90F is an enticing choice for people wanting an LED TV with a matte coating, as it's a noticeable step up in performance when compared to TVs like Samsung The Frame 2024, the TCL NXTVISION, or the Hisense CanvasTV 2024.
For more options, check out our recommendations for the best QLED TVs, the best 4k gaming TVs, and the best TVs.
The Samsung S90F and the Samsung QN90F use different panel technologies that target different users, so the best one ultimately depends on how you plan to use it. With its QD-OLED panel, the S90F delivers perfect blacks in a dark room with no distracting haloing or raised blacks. It also delivers a better gaming experience thanks to its nearly instantaneous response time. The QN90F, on the other hand, is a lot brighter, so it can handle more glare when used in a bright room. It's no slouch for dark room viewing, either, but its blacks just aren't as deep as they are on the S90F.
The Samsung QN90F is significantly better than the Samsung QN80F in almost every way. The QN90F delivers much better picture quality, with better contrast, higher peak brightness, and better colors. They're more closely matched when it comes to gaming and motion, though, as both have noticeable blur in fast scenes and a similar selection of gaming features. Still, even gamers will benefit from the better picture quality the QN90F delivers, so it's still the far better TV.
The Samsung QN90D and Samsung QN90F are extremely similar TVs, but, overall, the older QN90D has a very slight edge over its successor, mostly due to its noticeably better contrast and color vibrancy. For gamers, it's a wash: the QN90D loses a lot of its HDR brightness in Game Mode, and the QN90F doesn't, but inversely, the newer model has noticeably worse zone transitions in Game Mode, giving it worse black levels than its predecessor when gaming. PC gamers will, however, appreciate the QN90F's 165Hz support and slightly faster pixel transitions, although it's a minor improvement. The biggest advantage of the QN90F is its far better direct reflection handling due to its matte coating.
The TCL QM8K is much better than the Samsung QN90F. The TCL delivers a more impactful HDR experience thanks to its higher peak brightness and much better local dimming, with deeper, more uniform blacks and smoother zone transitions. The TCL also delivers better colors, with a wider color gamut and better color saturation.
We buy and test dozens of TVs yearly, taking an objective, data-driven approach to deliver results you can trust. Our testing process is complex, with hundreds of individual tests that take over a week to complete. Most of our tests use specially designed test patterns that mimic real content, but we also use the same sources you have at home to ensure our results match the real-world experience. We use two main tools for our testing: a Colorimetry Research CR-100 colorimeter and a CR-250 spectroradiometer.
Test Results
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