Samsung has just announced its exciting new dynamic HDR format, and while it's not slated to launch until next year at the very earliest, I've had a sneak peek at what Samsung envisages the future of HDR10+ looks like.
During a visit to the tech goliath's headquarters in Suwon, South Korea, Samsung showed me a simulated version of this new format, which it's calling HDR10+ Advanced, in action.
Given the circumstances of the demo, I'm of course not drawing any firm conclusions, as the final format could be quite different, but what I saw looked very promising.
HDR10+ Advanced is set to bring a range of picture-enhancing features, including improved accuracy and precision when it comes to tone mapping and colour presentation, as well as a content recognition system that will apply adjustments based on the genre of the TV show or movie you're watching.
It's been developed with next-gen RGB Mini LED TVs in mind. Samsung is, of course, developing such TVs (which it confusingly calls 'Micro RGB TVs) itself, but other brands, including Hisense, TCL and Sony, are also aboard the RGB Mini LED train.
The new RGB Mini LED panels are expected to reach brightness peaks of up to 4000 nits, so an HDR format that can better take advantage of the capabilities of these super-bright TVs makes a lot of sense to me. Evidently, Samsung feels the same.
Samsung placed two of its 115-inch Micro RGB sets side by side to demonstrate what it's aiming to achieve with HDR10+ Advanced, with one TV showing traditional HDR10+ footage and the other showing edited footage to simulate how the HDR10+ Bright picture mode should perform.
The biggest difference to my eyes was colour presentation. Skin tones seemed richer, and clothing appeared more vibrant without looking unnatural. This is presumably what Samsung is aiming for with its Advanced Colour Control feature, which leverages more advanced metadata provided by content creators.
Furthermore, the potential of improved tone mapping appears to pay off with the inclusion of brighter, more eye-catching highlights against darker backgrounds.
Speaking of the darker sections, there seemed to be more definition and detail to skin and hair textures in a sequence with two scientists inspecting an artefact in a dark cave.
It's hard to make a conclusive decision about HDR10+ Advanced, as this is just Samsung's vision for the format, rather than a finalised version. Despite that, I think Samsung is heading in the right direction.
I also appreciate the fact that Samsung has already gone as far as demonstrating its intentions for the format. The rival Dolby Vision 2 format was announced over two months ago, but has still not been seen in action.
I think that CES 2026 could be the battleground for these new formats, with Samsung and Dolby going head-to-head in order to steal the HDR headlines.
MORE:
HDR10+: everything you need to know
Dolby Vision HDR: everything you need to know
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