Editor’s Note: As of March 2018, Samsung has announced pricing information for its 2018 QLED lineup. This article has been updated to reflect that.
At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Samsung announced one of the “wow” products, an enormous 146-inch TV called “The Wall” TV that’ll cost as much as a car — but no normal person was going to be able to buy it. Now, the company has announced its 2018 lineup of QLED 4K TVs, and they’re poised to be a lot more affordable. And they look pretty crazy, too.
This year’s QLED TVs, not be confused with OLED TVs (which Samsung doesn’t make), have incremental improvements over last year’s QLED TVs. They have superior picture quality, are now being a smart home hub for Samsung’s SmartThings, and are more integrated with Bixby, the company’s virtual assistant.
The coolest feature, however, is the TV’s new “Ambient Mode,” which is a low-power idle setting that can display things like news or weather. If the TV is wall mounted, you can take a photo of it and the surrounding wall, and the display will imitate the pattern of the wall. It’s a neat visual trick that, sort of reminiscent of a chameleon blending in with a tree. Or an octopus blending in with the sand. Samsung’s The Frame TV can do a similar visual trick.
The TVs will hit stores everywhere this March. The 2018 QLED lineup includes the following series: Q9, Q8, Q7 and Q6. The Q9 and Q8 are the highest-end models, featuring more full-array local dimming zones. All four series of QLED TVs support HDR10+. For sizing information of the individual series, see below.
• Q9 Series: 65- and 75-inch models (starting at $3,800)
• Q8 Series: 55-, 65- and 75-inch models (starting at $2,200)
• Q7 Series: 55-, 65- and 75 models (starting at $1,900)
• Q6 Series: 65- and 75-inch models (starting at $2,200)
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