Samsung S95B QD-OLED Review

Removing the white subpixel changed what a bright colour could look like. QD-OLED converts blue emission through quantum dots instead of filtering white light through a colour layer, so the S95B holds close to full saturation at peak luminance and covers around 90 percent of DCI-P3 volume where a 2022 white-OLED desaturated as it climbed. Reds and cyans in HDR look like they belong to a different class of display. It reaches roughly 1,000 nits on a 10 percent window, and with no white channel to lean on, that number arrives in colour rather than in grey.

The flaw is structural. The panel does without the conventional circular polariser, so ambient light striking the quantum dot layer re-emits as a faint magenta haze and blacks lift visibly the moment a lamp is on. Samsung also shipped it without Dolby Vision and with early firmware that clipped near-black detail until several updates in. Two sizes only, at $2,999 for the 65-inch. Judged as a first attempt it is remarkable. Judged as a purchase it asked buyers to fund the debugging of a brand new panel technology.