The Samsung S85F OLED is Samsung's entry-level OLED in 2025 and replaces the 2024 Samsung S85D OLED. Unlike its predecessor, the TV uses a more colorful QD-OLED panel in its 55 and 65-inch size options. It sits below the Samsung S90F OLED and Samsung S95F OLED. Unlike those higher-end offerings, the S85F uses the older NQ4 AI Gen2 Processor. You still get the 2025 version of Samsung's Tizen OS, which has smart features like voice control and a web browser, and it's cast-capable. It has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on all four ports, and supports 4k @ 120Hz with VRR. Like all Samsung TVs, it doesn't support the popular Dolby Vision HDR format, but it does support the similar HDR10+. We bought and tested the 65-inch model, and it's available in four different sizes: 55-inch, 65-inch, 77-inch, and 83-inch. Unfortunately, only the 55 and 65-inch models use QD-OLED panels in North America, and the larger sizes both have WOLED panels. Outside of North America, all sizes use WOLED panels.
Our Verdict
The Samsung S85F is a great TV for mixed usage. It's impressive in a dark room due to its perfect black levels, incredibly vivid colors, and adequate HDR brightness. Despite only having okay SDR brightness, it also handles glare pretty well in a room with the lights on, thanks to its solid reflection handling, although blacks do look gray in a room with ambient lighting. The TV is loaded with modern gaming features and has the nearly instantaneous response time OLEDs are known for, so it's a good option to pair with modern consoles. It also has an incredibly wide viewing angle, so it's a solid choice if you watch content with big groups of friends.
Near-infinite contrast ratio for perfect blacks with no blooming around bright highlights.
Incredibly wide viewing angle for a consistent image from the sides.
Colors are incredibly vivid and accurate.
Great handling of direct and indirect reflections.
Black levels are drastically raised in rooms with the lights on.
Only okay SDR brightness means it struggles to overcome glare in very bright rooms.
Isn't bright enough in HDR to display large, bright highlights.
The Samsung S85F is impressive for a home theater. It looks awesome in a dark room thanks to its perfect, inky blacks and incredibly vibrant and accurate colors. It's not a super bright TV in HDR, but its HDR brightness is adequate enough for most highlights to stand out in HDR movies and shows. Furthermore, the brightness of HDR content is remarkably accurate, so this is a TV that respects the filmmaker's intent. It also delivers very good upscaling, so low-resolution content isn't too soft. Although the TV's low-quality content smoothing does a decent job cleaning up artifacts in low bitrate content, it doesn't remove them entirely. Like all OLEDS, the TV's nearly instantaneous response time leads to some stutter in 24fps content, so slower camera movements aren't as smooth as they should be.
Near-infinite contrast ratio for perfect blacks with no blooming around bright highlights.
Colors are incredibly vivid and accurate.
Does a very good job upscaling low-resolution content.
Remarkable HDR brightness accuracy.
No Dolby Vision or DTS audio support.
Significant stutter due to the TV's fast response time.
Isn't bright enough in HDR to display large, bright highlights.
The Samsung S85F is decent for a bright room. It's bright enough in SDR to overcome glare in a moderately lit room, but it's not quite bright enough to use in a well-lit room. Fortunately, it does a great job reducing the intensity of direct reflections, like a lamp or window that's opposite the screen. Dark colors lose some noticeable saturation in a room with ambient lighting, but you still enjoy a colorful viewing experience with your lights on. Unfortunately, blacks look gray when you watch TV in a bright environment, and you lose the visual impact this OLED has in a dark room.
Colors are incredibly vivid and accurate.
Great handling of direct and indirect reflections.
Black levels are drastically raised in rooms with the lights on.
Only okay SDR brightness means it struggles to overcome glare in very bright rooms.
The Samsung S85F is good for watching sports. It's bright enough in SDR to handle some glare in a well-lit room, but it's best suited for a moderately lit room. The TV does a very good job upscaling cable broadcasts and streams that aren't in 4k, but it doesn't completely remove artifacts from low bitrate feeds. Colors are vivid and accurate, so your team's jersey pops and looks the way it should. It also has good motion handling, with absolutely no blur behind fast-moving objects and no distracting color transition artifacts. Finally, it's a great choice for hosting big game day parties, since the image doesn't degrade when viewed from the sides of the screen.
Incredibly wide viewing angle for a consistent image from the sides.
Colors are incredibly vivid and accurate.
Does a very good job upscaling low-resolution content.
Great handling of direct and indirect reflections.
No transition artifacts.
Only okay SDR brightness means it struggles to overcome glare in very bright rooms.
The Samsung S85F is excellent for gaming. It has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, 4k @ 120Hz, and VRR, making it a great pairing with your modern console. It also has low input lag for a snappy gaming experience, and its nearly instantaneous pixel transitions mean fast motion is crystal clear. The TV displays inky, perfect blacks and vivid colors in both SDR and HDR, so you get an image that truly impresses. Although it's not super bright in HDR, its brightness is still adequate, so highlights in HDR games stand out well enough for an impactful experience.
Nearly instantaneous pixel transitions for no noticeable blur behind fast motion.
Colors are incredibly vivid and accurate.
Very low input lag at 120Hz for a responsive experience.
Isn't bright enough in HDR to display large, bright highlights.
The Samsung S85F has okay brightness overall. The TV is bright enough to help fight glare in a room with some lights turned on, but it's not quite bright enough for very bright rooms. Its HDR brightness is adequate, as it's bright enough in HDR for an impactful viewing experience.
Only okay SDR brightness means it struggles to overcome glare in very bright rooms.
Isn't bright enough in HDR to display large, bright highlights.
The Samsung S85F is an OLED, so it has perfect black levels. Blacks are inky in a dark room with no blooming around highlights.
Near-infinite contrast ratio for perfect blacks with no blooming around bright highlights.
The Samsung S85F has amazing colors overall. It has outstanding SDR color volume and excellent HDR color volume, so you get a vibrant viewing experience regardless of the type of content you're watching. It also has excellent SDR color accuracy and good HDR color accuracy out-of-the-box, so it doesn't require calibration if you want colors to appear close to the way they are supposed to.
Colors are incredibly vivid and accurate.
The Samsung S85F OLED has good motion handling when watching content. There are no noticeable transition artifacts, so colors are consistent and edges of fast-moving objects are sharp. It has a nearly instantaneous response time that helps deliver crystal-clear motion, but this sadly introduces noticeable stutter in most content. Its motion interpolation feature is also largely ineffective at reducing stutter. It helps a bit, and the frame timing is consistent so motion looks smooth, but you'll still see stutter in slow panning shots. On the other hand, it can't remove judder from 25p sources sent over a 60p signal. This exact combination is quite rare, though, and you'll only encounter it if you're using an older cable box or streaming stick.
Nearly instantaneous pixel transitions for no noticeable blur behind fast motion.
No transition artifacts.
Removes judder from most content.
Significant stutter due to the TV's fast response time.
Inconsistent frame timing with 25p via 60p sources.
The Samsung S85F has fantastic responsiveness while in Game Mode. It has support for G-SYNC, FreeSync, and HDMI Forum VRR, so you get all three of the most common forms of VRR for a nearly tear-free experience. Thanks to its nearly instantaneous pixel transitions, fast motion is very clear. You also get low input lag, especially at 120Hz, so gaming feels responsive.
Nearly instantaneous pixel transitions for no noticeable blur behind fast motion.
Very low input lag at 120Hz for a responsive experience.
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 S85F has great processing overall. The TV does a very good job of upscaling low-resolution content. On the other hand, it only does a decent job smoothing out artifacts in heavily compressed content, so you still see artifacts like macro-blocking. It has outstanding gradient handling, with almost no visible banding in color gradients. Finally, the TV has remarkable PQ EOTF tracking, so it stays true to the filmmaker's intent when it comes to HDR brightness accuracy.
Does a very good job upscaling low-resolution content.
Remarkable HDR brightness accuracy.
Almost no banding at all in color gradients.
Performance Usages
Changelog
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Updated Mar 11, 2026:
We added text to our new Cinematic 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.
- Updated Jan 20, 2026: We added text to the new Micro-Judder section and refreshed the text in the updated Judder and Response Time Stutter sections after converting the review to TV 2.1.
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Updated Jul 30, 2025:
Added a note to the PQ EOTF Tracking section about Samsung's removal of HGIG.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We bought and tested the 65-inch QD-OLED Samsung S85F, and these results are also valid for the 55-inch model. It's also available in 77 and 83-inch options, but those use WOLED panels, so they perform differently. Whether or not you get a QD-OLED panel could differ depending on the retailer as well, so pay attention to the model code. If the last four digits end in FXZA, the TV should have a QD-OLED panel, but if the code ends in EXZA, it likely has a WOLED panel. Outside of North America, all TV sizes use a WOLED panel, and our results aren't valid for those.
The TV is also sold as the Samsung S85FD at warehouse stores like Costco and Sam's Club, and comes with a longer warranty. These variants perform the same, but just like the normal 77-inch version, the 77-inch variant is a WOLED.
| Size | US Model | Canada Model | Warehouse Model | Display Technology |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 55" | QN55S85FAFXZA | QN55S85FAFXZC | N/A | QD-OLED |
| 65" | QN65S85FAFXZA | QN65S85FAFXZC | QN65S85FDFXZA | QD-OLED |
| 77" | QN77S85FAEXZA | QN77S85FAEXZC | QN77S85FDEXZA | WOLED |
| 83" | QN83S85FAEXZA | QN83S85FAEXZC | N/A | WOLED |
Our unit was manufactured in March 2025.
Popular TV Comparisons
The Samsung S85F is a bit of a peculiar TV. It's comparable to a TV like the LG B4 OLED, but its QD-OLED panel delivers top-notch color performance. Unfortunately, only the 55 and 65-inch models use a QD-OLED panel, so you don't get the same color performance on the larger sizes or if you're not in North America. Outside of brightness, it performs similarly to the 2024 Samsung S90D OLED, but is limited to 120Hz. The S90D is still better overall, and if you can find it for around the same price as the S85F, it's still the better choice. If you want something bigger and are okay with a WOLED panel, the LG B4 OLED is the better option, since it supports Dolby Vision and has better overall image processing.
For more options, check out our recommendations for the best OLED TVs, the best gaming TVs, and the best 70-75-77 Inch TVs.
The Samsung S90F OLED is better than the Samsung S85F OLED. The S90F offers a much more immersive viewing experience due to its far brighter HDR highlights and better HDR color volume, while also being brighter in SDR. Plus, the S90F is the better option for PC gamers due to its 4k @ 144Hz support, while the S85F is limited to 4k @ 120Hz.
The Samsung S85F OLED is a bit better than the LG B5 OLED, mostly because it is a bit brighter in SDR, and is noticeably more colorful. The Samsung also handles reflections far better than the LG, but this comes at the cost of noticeable ambient black level raise, giving the screen a grey-pink tint in brighter environments. Finally, the Samsung has an even wider viewing angle than the already excellent LG, with no green tint. The LG does have some notable advantages, such as better HDR pre-calibration accuracy, and better low-quality content smoothing; the LG also supports the 6Ghz Wi-Fi band, while the Samsung is limited to the 2.4 and 5Ghz bands.
The LG C5 OLED is better than the Samsung S85F OLED in most ways. The LG is a lot brighter overall, so it overcomes more glare in bright rooms and displays more impactful highlights in HDR content. The LG does a better job of removing artifacts from low-bitrate content and upscaling low-resolution content, so it's a better TV when the quality of your content is less than ideal. The LG also supports Dolby Vision, making it more versatile overall. However, the Samsung has the advantage with color vibrancy due to its QD-OLED panel.
The Samsung S95F is a significant step up over the entry-level Samsung S85F. The biggest advantage is the S95F's increase in brightness. It's a lot brighter in HDR, so small bright highlights stand out better, and large bright scenes are brighter and more vivid. There's also a significant difference in design, as the S95F houses all its inputs in an external input box, which is more convenient for adjusting inputs, as you can place the input box next to your sources instead of having to reach behind the TV.
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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