Philips OLED910 vs Samsung S95F: which five-star OLED should you buy?

Philips and Samsung are both veterans of the TV industry, mass-producing quality sets before the first issue of What Hi-Fi? went on sale half a century ago.

The TV industry and the two brands are very different now, but both still know how to put together a tasty-looking flagship.

These aren’t just any flagships, though; what we have battling it out before us are the Philips OLED910 and Samsung S95F, two stunning OLEDs and contenders for the best TV of the last year.

So which of these five-star sets is the better buy? We’ll break down the arguments below…

Philips OLED910 vs Samsung S95F: Price

The Samsung S95F launched first, with the 65-inch model retailing for £3399 / $3300 / AU$5299.

However, prices have dropped in recent months, with a standout January deal bringing the 65-inch S95F down to £1799 / $2430 / AU$3424. Typically, though, the S95F is available for around £2099.

The 65-inch Philips OLED910, however, launched at a very aggressive (at the time) price of £2199 (Philips OLEDs are not available in the US or Australia at all).

Similarly, a standout January deal dropped the OLED910 to £1699; it currently sits at around £1999.

Even though the gap has narrowed, the OLED910 has reached a deeper low and has consistently undercut the Samsung, making it the more budget-friendly choice over time.

**Winner: Philips OLED910**

Philips OLED910 vs Samsung S95F: Design

This really is a fashion face-off, as we have two of the most stylish TVs among the OLED flagships.

Neither has changed much from its predecessor, which is no bad thing – the OLED910 evokes the sculpted OLED909, with a grey Kvadrat fabric wrapped around the slim speaker bar and dainty, ice-skate-like feet.

The biggest design draw of the OLED910 design is, of course, Philips’s Ambilight technology. This consists of coloured LEDs along the back of each side of the TV, that create a full, seamless lightshow that dynamically matches the on-screen action.

Ambilight instills a bit of a marmite reaction among home cinema aficionados, but we think it can be stunning with the right bright, colourful content such as the Spider-Verse movies.

The Samsung S95F, on the other hand, boasts a uniform 1.1cm thickness and a premium metal shell.

This is partly achieved through Samsung’s One Connect Box, which houses all the processing, connections, and power in a separate box that then connects to the TV via a single cable. As well as enabling the S95F’s astounding thinness, it also serves as a tidy, discreet cable manager.

In contrast to the OLED910’s dainty feet, the S95F comes with a premium, and heavy, pedestal stand. It gives the TV a very solid base while also being low-profile enough to accommodate a typical soundbar.

If you’re a big Ambilight fan, this might be enough to swing things in the Philips’s favour, but for sheer attractiveness and all-around appeal, we’re going to give this to Samsung.

**Winner: Samsung S95F**

Philips OLED910 vs Samsung S95F: Features

Starting with the all-important panels, Samsung, of course, uses its QD-OLED offering. The fourth generation of the technology claims to allow the TV to go 30 per cent brighter than its S95D predecessor, with a peak brightness of around 2000 nits.

Philips, as a user of LG’s panels, has made the move from MLA OLED to Primary RGB Tandem OLED. Brightness is the big beneficiary of this switch, with Philips claiming that the OLED910 can hit a peak brightness of 3700 nits.

Honestly, though, it’s best to more or less ignore claims such as these; each brand measures in different ways, so they are rarely like for like figures, and the settings required to get the brightest images never create a picture that is actually pleasant to watch.

All you really need to know here is that these are two of the brightest OLED TVs currently available, and the Philips could potentially be the brighter of the two.

Samsung has also upgraded its anti-glare coating, which is more effective at suppressing reflections than that of glossy panels such as the Philips OLED910. The matte screen does result in some raised blacks when viewed in a bright room, but this is not an issue if you take your viewing seriously enough to dim your lights.

Samsung’s panel also has a higher refresh rate of 165Hz, and 4K/165Hz gaming is supported via all four HDMI 2.1 sockets. The OLED910 maxes out at 4K/144Hz and has only two HDMI 2.1 sockets, with the other two being limited to 4K/60Hz.

Those with lots of gaming hardware may lean towards the S95F then; but do bear in mind that the PS5 and Xbox Series X can output at a maximum of 4K/120Hz, so only PC gamers with very powerful machines will have any use for refresh rates beyond that.

Both TVs support VRR and ALLM.

These are modern flagship TVs, so it’s no surprise that both the sets feature a raft of AI-powered picture-performance features. A highlight of the S95F is AI Upscaling Pro, one of our favourite features of the QN900D 8K TV, which can sharpen finer details and remove visual imperfections. The Philips OLED910, on the other hand, can classify on-screen content and adapt the picture quality to best suit what you are watching; it also includes algorithms to enhance sharpness, colour vibrancy and contrast.

Philips comes out on top in terms of HDR commitment, with support for all four HDR formats: HDR10+, Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG. Unsurprisingly, the S95F lacks Dolby Vision, as Samsung continues to push its own HDR10+ format.

Both TVs support Dolby Atmos. The Samsung boasts a 70W, 4.2.2-channel speaker system with Samsung's proprietary OTS+ technology; Philips, on the other hand, has partnered with Bowers & Wilkins for an 81W, 3.1-channel system.

We’ll factor the panel technology into the picture round as it is ultimately the performance that matters. That leaves the two TVs fairly evenly matched – the Samsung has the gaming advantage, while Philips boasts all-encompassing HDR support.

**Winner: Draw**

Philips OLED910 vs Samsung S95F: Picture

Both TVs, as expected, make a relatively poor impression in their default settings. Switching to Filmmaker Mode largely fixes the issues for the Samsung S95F; the Philips OLED910, however, requires a bit more work, as several of the ‘Ambient Intelligence’ settings are left on.

Once settings are properly dialled in, however, it’s remarkable how close both these TVs get to the Sony Bravia 8 II, our Product of the Year and current benchmark.

The Samsung S95F is arguably even more impressive than the Bravia 8 II when it comes to bright content, such as Kingpin’s dimension-melding machine in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which is gloriously vivid and dazzling in the best possible way.

The Philips might not have the same pop, but it does offer superb vibrancy and punch that go hand in hand with naturalism and authenticity. As long as you stay in Filmmaker mode, the brightness isn’t forced.

With more grounded content, both TVs suffer from a smidge of over-exaggeration, particularly with skin tones, which can look a little too red. However, this is a minor issue you are unlikely to notice on either TV when watching in isolation. It is certainly present, however, when viewed side by side with the more balanced and super-accurate Bravia 8 II.

This is not to detract from the overall delivery on both – every 4K and HDR movie we throw at each TV is displayed with stunning sharpness and detail.

The S95F’s QD-OLED panel delivers consistent colours from the darkest to the brightest parts of the image, while the OLED910’s Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel is slightly less vibrant and consistent at the extremes.

However, it’s the OLED910 that comes closest to the Bravia 8 II, which is really exceptional given the lower price.

Motion on the OLED910 is genuinely excellent, with a firm grip on people’s movements and a satisfying lack of judder even in tricky panning shots. All of which is achieved without the dreaded soap-opera effect, meaning the OLED910 has a rare Goldilocks motion setting.

The S95F, in comparison, has no such Goldilocks setting – the small amount of judder present by default can’t be removed without at least a whiff of the soap-opera effect.

The OLED910 handles dark scenes exceptionally well, offering OLED’s trademark perfect blacks and excellent shadow detail, with skin tones that aren’t too washed out.

This is where the S95F has a noticeable picture quality flaw: black crush. It’s not a huge flaw by any means, but some of the subtlety in dark scenes is lost. Changing the Shadow Detail settings results in unintended side effects that outweigh the benefits.

The OLED910 has some flaws of its own, though, including imperfect blacks in Dolby Vision performance and over-brightened SDR content in every single picture preset. To be clear, SDR content still looks excellent, but we would prefer a mode that tracks intended brightness accurately – which is what the Samsung does in its Filmmaker Mode.

Overall, though, it’s the OLED910 that comes out on top. It offers a solidity and vivaciousness that few TVs can match, and is an excellent picture performer overall, only a few whiskers off our benchmark.

**Winner: Philips OLED910**

Philips OLED910 vs Samsung S95F: Sound

When it comes to sound, there’s a clear winner here.

We’ll start with the S95F, which sounds impressive for such a thin TV with a speaker system completely hidden from view.

To quote from our Samsung S95F review: “There’s significantly more bass than one would expect, a generally balanced tonal range, clear dialogue, and a soundstage that extends fairly effectively beyond the TV's side and top edges.”

However, the S95F is rather quiet, and cranking up the volume results in a buzz from several of the speakers. The louder the set goes, the more the speakers crackle, whether it's the explosive part of a movie or the less challenging parts.

There is nothing in the settings that fixes this, and indeed, several of the other sound modes and features have problems of their own.

The Philips set, on the other hand, benefits greatly from the brand’s collaboration with Bowers & Wilkins.

As our Philips OLED910 review reads: “With every Dolby Atmos movie we throw at it, the TV produces a sound with lots of width, good effect placement, very good detail, impressive weight (for a TV) and lovely tonal balance.”

There’s particularly good spatial and tonal organisation, while dynamics are impressive too, with voices having lots of realism and bigger volume changes handled very adeptly.

Other than a little softness in the bass, there’s nothing to complain about with the OLED910’s audio delivery. It sounds even better than our current benchmark, the Sony Bravia 8 II, and you would have to be looking at a soundbar as good as the Sonos Arc Ultra for any significant sonic upgrade.

For this reason, the Philips OLED910 comfortably takes the win for sound quality.

**Winner: Philips OLED910**

Philips OLED910 vs Samsung S95F: Verdict

As two OLED flagships and five-star stunners, this was always going to be a close call.

The Samsung S95F still reigns supreme as the best-looking of the 2025 flagship OLEDs, and has an awful lot going for it, including four HDMI 2.1 sockets and a faster refresh rate.

But the Philips OLED910 pips it in both picture quality and sound, while costing a decent amount less too. If you’re a fan of Ambilight too, then the pendulum swings strongly in favour of the OLED910.

Neither TV is a bad purchase, and it must be said that the Samsung S95F delivers bright content with a vivid, dazzling pop, and does so with less fiddling of the settings. The audio also delivers more bass than the OLED910, and is balanced and clear enough for everyday use.

The OLED910, however, is the closest TV to our current benchmark, the Sony Bravia 8 II, in terms of picture quality. It’s vibrant and punchy in a more natural, authentic way than the S95F, and excels in dark scenes, where the S95F suffers from black crush. The built-in audio is also among the best on the market right now, with none of the distortion issues of the S95F and a sonic performance that would need a good soundbar to comfortably top.

Gamers and aesthetics-focused buyers may well want to go for the S95F, but the Philips OLED910 is our multifaceted, all-around pick.

**Winner: Philips OLED910**