Samsung Announces New 8K And 4K TVs With Drastically Improved Picture Quality

Ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show next week, Samsung has revealed its new line of 4K and 8K TVs set to launch later in 2021.

All the models announced today make use of brand new QLED technology that Samsung is branding "Neo QLED." The biggest benefit is that Samsung has managed to reduce the size of the LEDs that act as the backlight in its display, allowing for drastically more dimming zones and the reduction of blooming. Traditional LED displays require backlighting for brightness, but the size of the LEDs has often led to distracting light bleed in scenes where only small portions of the image are overly bright or dark. This is one of the biggest benefits of OLEDs, which are self-emissive.

According to The Verge, Samsung is promising up to "up to almost 30,000 tiny LEDs" and "up to 2,500 dimming zones," which will make backlighting in this year's models noticeably better than those from 2020. Samsung announced to 8K models (the QN900A and QN800A) as well as numerous 4K models (QN95A, QN90A, and the QN85A). The number of dimming zones does decrease with less expensive models, but Samsung hasn't detailed each individually yet.

What will be common across the range is support for HDMI 2.1, which will be useful for your new Xbox Series X, Series S, and PS5 console. HDMI 2.1 support means you will be able to enjoy games at 4K and 120hz where supported, as well as eARC and auto low-latency mode. Samsung is also introducing a game bar to these new models that lets you change game-specific TV settings without diving into the menus. The new sets will also support aspect ratios of 21:9 and 32:9, which might come in handy for PCs hooked up to the displays.

Samsung is exploring MicroLED with its extremely premium displays, but those are still reserved for a very niche market. Samsung announced two models that join the existing 100-inch MicroLED TV on sale now, coming in at 99-inch and 88-inch models. These new sets won't require professional installation, unlike the 110-inch model.

Samsung has not shared pricing and availability details for its new TVs, but you can likely expect them later this year as is custom with the company.