Most of Samsung's smart TVs use QLED (quantum dot light-emitting diode) panels, which are similar to regular LED screens, but with a special layer to improve colors and contrast. However, the company is now trying something different: an OLED smart TV, intended to compete with LG's lineup of OLED TVs.

Samsung's first OLED 4K TV, the "S95B OLED 4K Smart TV," is now available for pre-order on the company's online store. There are two sizes to pick from, and both will cost you — the 55-inch version is $1,299.99, while the 65-inch is $2,999.99. Samsung is accepting trade-ins to lower the price, but only for select Galaxy phones (a working S21 Ultra will only be worth $600 as a trade-in).

Samsung's first OLED TV, the S95B, is now available for pre-order.
Samsung S95B 66-inch 4K OLED TV

Samsung's first OLED TV, the S95B, is now available for pre-order.

The OLED panel on this model should give you deeper blacks than any QLED TV, since individual pixels turn off with total black scenes, and OLED doesn't have the same visible backlight effect as other display technologies. Besides the different panel, the S95B supports refresh rates up to 120Hz (at the native 4K resolution) and is rated for HDR10+. The TV also has the same 'Neural Quantum Processor' as Samsung's other high-end TVs, which can upscale content to 4K with a slightly-cleaner appearance than regular scaling. You still only get four HDMI ports, though.

It remains to be seen how Samsung's first OLED TV will stack up against LG's OLED lineup in real-world use. LG does seem to have a slight advantage in pricing, at least — the 55-inch LG C1 is available for $100 less than the 55-inch S95B, with a similar bezel-less design, AI upscaling, and 120Hz support. If high refresh rate support isn't important to you (hello, fellow Nintendo Switch owners), the 55-inch LG A1 is even cheaper.

The new OLED TV comes after Samsung revealed several new TV models at CES 2022 earlier this year, including models with Micro LED and QLED panels.