Thinking a new TV might get you in a more relaxed state of mind? Samsung’s latest fresh from CES are heading to stores now.
It’s April, and that means the TV changeover season is properly in full swing. That is to say that TV makers are getting this year’s models out, and that means new models are on the way.
While on the one hand it means you might be able to snag a bargain from your local electronics store, online or otherwise, it also means the new gear is on the way to the shops, too, boasting upgrades and improvements, particularly if you already planned to spend the same amount on last year’s model that was still near the same price up until now.
For Samsung, it’s a range that spreads over several in its flagship “Q” series, plus one in the mid-range that aims to impress on feature and size.
Samsung’s 2020 QLED TVs
It’s a range, however, that Samsung hopes to grab people with thanks to displays that deliver more screen than before, plus support for AMD Freesync in PC gaming, HDR technology, mobile support to handle multitasking from your phone to your TV, and support for voice assistants, including Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and even Samsung’s less used Bixby.
While each TV features their own capabilities, you’ll find the Q-range of TVs uses Samsung’s metal-enhanced quantum dots, also known as “QLED”. Not technically a new technology, QLED is Samsung’s alternative to OLED, relying on crystals that sit over the pixels to enhance and make the colour more vibrant.
Alongside the QLED technology, you’ll find that multiscreen technology for your phone, allowing you to run apps from your phone side-by-side with the TV, potentially allowing you to refresh that Q&A Twitter feed on the ABC on screen while you watch the ABC program alongside.
It’s just one of the changes, and starts with the Samsung Q60T, a 2020 that uses a new 4K processor to optimise image quality for the 4K screen, with this one available in a $1729 55 inch, a $2199 65 inch, and a $3349 75 inch.
The Q60T supports a variant of Ambient Mode to run the TV as a photo wall or display when not in use, while the other models in the 2020 Samsung Q-range support Ambient Mode+, which can emulate the wallpaper behind your TV on screen.
In fact, the Q70T also adds a sound mode for active voice amplification, bringing the price up to $2099 for a 55 inch, $2699 for a 65 inch, $4049 for a 75 inch, and $6399 for an 85 inch.
Next is the Q80T, which improves the LED backlighting to a more precise controller, Direct Full Array, while sound is handled through object tracking, firing speakers on the TV where the object on screen is.
Samsung’s Q80T starts at $2549 for a 55 inch, fetching $3499 for a 65 inch, $5249 for a 75 inch, and $7549 for a whopping 85 inch.
Interestingly, Samsung’s top end 4K screen, the Q95T, isn’t being release at the same huge size as the Q80T. Instead, it will range from 55 inches to 75 inches, and offer a fast 200Hz motion panel for sports on top of all of those other features, a different stand, an some very slim bezels to boot.
You’ll find the Q95T from $3499 for the 55 inch, $4649 for the 65 inch, and $6999 for the 75 inch.
Yet this isn’t the end of the range for Samsung’s high-end, which is coming later in the year in a Samsung QLED 8K selection, and includes the Q950T, a TV boasting not just the 8K resolution and a new upscaling chip, but a screen that offers slimmer bezels than ever before achieving 99 percent screen, allowing the image to lack the feeling that it’s encased by a frame.
Samsung’s 2020 mid-range TVs: Crystal UHD
Samsung’s other effort in 2020 isn’t actually in the high-end, but rather the mid-range. Replacing the RU series is the TU TVs, a model name that Samsung is calling the “Crystal UHD” TVs.
A little bit different again, these are quantum-dot-less 4K UHD TVs, keeping the ambient mode, HDR support, and smart assistants, while also getting the “one remote” concept the more expensive TVs typically see.
The most useful part, however, is that they’re Samsung 4K TVs that not only fit in a more friendly price point, but also a smaller size, with Samsung’s high-end largely ditching anything below a 55 inch screen size.
Samsung’s TU8000 Crystal UHD TVs keep smaller sizes, though, sporting a 43 inch for $1019, a 50 inch for $1129, 55 inches for $1369, 65 inches for $1699, 75 inches for $2589, and cracking just under four thousand with an 82 inch TU8000 for $3939.
Samsung’s 2020 TV availability
While CES gave us a glimpse of Samsung’s screens earlier in the year, with bright picture and neat features, Australians will be able to get their hands on them in the coming weeks.
And sure, many stores are now closed amidst the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis, limiting the ability to try the TV out in stores considerably, but if you can get to a store, you should find them in major electronics stores and department stores that are open. Otherwise, you can expect online counterparts to have stock very, very shortly.
