Samsung Neo QLED QN990F 98"

Samsung's QN990F is a 98-inch 8K Mini-LED monster with best-in-class audio and a glare-free screen. It's around $35,000 USD, so it's a luxury purchase, not a practical one. The 120Hz panel and 5x HDMI 2.1 ports make it a serious gaming display too. But with no Dolby Vision and a lukewarm 3.8/5 customer rating, it's hard to recommend for anyone but the most dedicated home theater enthusiast.

Let's talk about what the QN990F does well. The display itself is top of the charts, with a 100th percentile ranking in our database. That means the panel quality, brightness, and color volume are about as good as it gets right now. The Mini-LED backlight with quantum dots is doing serious work here, and the glare-free screen is a real differentiator if you've got windows or lights fighting for attention in your viewing room.

The gaming side is strong too, landing in the 89th percentile. You get a native 120Hz refresh rate, FreeSync Premium Pro, ALLM, and HDMI 2.1 across five ports. That's plenty for a PS5, Xbox Series X, or a beefy gaming PC. The 6.4.4-channel, 120-watt speaker setup also ranks at the very top for audio, which is rare for a flat-panel TV. Most built-in speakers are an afterthought. This one might actually be usable without a soundbar, especially with Dolby Atmos support.

Where it gets more interesting is picture quality overall, which sits at the 79th percentile. That's still strong, but it's not the absolute best we've seen. The HDR support is solid at the 85th percentile, covering HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG. But there's no Dolby Vision, which is a Samsung tradition at this point. If you're deep in the Apple TV or Netflix ecosystem, that's a real trade-off. The NQ8 AI Gen3 processor is supposed to handle 8K upscaling beautifully, but without native 8K content widely available, you're mostly buying potential rather than current payoff.

The LG C5 OLED is the obvious alternative if picture quality per dollar matters more than raw size. OLED gives you perfect blacks and better contrast in dark rooms, and the C5 is a fraction of the QN990F's price. But you're giving up the sheer scale and brightness of the Mini-LED panel, and the Samsung's anti-glare treatment is better for bright living rooms.

The Sony BRAVIA 5 and Hisense U8 are both strong mid-range options that punch above their weight. The Hisense U8 in particular has been a favorite for bright-room viewing, and it costs dramatically less. But neither of them touches the QN990F on size, resolution, or built-in audio. The TCL QM6K and Roku Plus Series are even more budget-friendly, but they're in a completely different conversation. If you're cross-shopping those with a $35,000 8K flagship, you probably don't need the flagship.

Let's be blunt. At around $35,000 USD, this is not a value play. You're paying for the biggest, brightest, most future-proofed Samsung panel you can buy, and the price reflects that. The Wireless One Connect Box and the 120-watt speaker system do add real utility, but they don't close the gap between this and a high-end 4K OLED that costs a fraction of the price.

Compared to the competition, the QN990F is in a class of its own on size and resolution. The LG C5 OLED, Sony BRAVIA 5, and Hisense U8 are all excellent TVs, but none of them are 98 inches of 8K Mini-LED. If you want the biggest screen with the most pixels, Samsung is the only game in town at this tier. Whether that's worth the premium depends entirely on your room and your wallet.

Samsung's QN990F is the kind of TV that makes you stop and stare. A 98-inch 8K Mini-LED panel with a nearly edgeless bezel and a glare-free screen, it's designed to be the centerpiece of a room. This is Samsung's flagship Neo QLED for 2025, and it's packing their most advanced picture processing in the NQ8 AI Gen3 chip. The Wireless One Connect Box is a nice touch too, meaning you can stash all your HDMI gear somewhere out of sight and just run a single thin cable to the screen.

Who's this for? Someone with a big room, a bigger budget, and a serious interest in future-proofing. 8K content is still rare, but the AI upscaling is meant to make everything you throw at it look sharper. The built-in 120-watt, 6.4.4-channel speaker system is also a standout, since most TVs this size assume you'll pair them with a soundbar. Samsung is betting you won't need to.

But here's the thing. The price tag is eye-watering, and the customer rating is sitting at 3.8 out of 5 from just 8 reviews. That's a small sample, but it's not exactly a ringing endorsement. We'll dig into what the specs and benchmarks say, and whether this TV earns its flagship status or just its flagship price.

If you're not planning to sit close to a screen this large, or if your room is on the smaller side, the QN990F is probably not for you. The 8K resolution is wasted at typical viewing distances, and the sheer size of the panel demands a big wall and a serious viewing setup. You'd be better off with a high-end 4K OLED like the LG C5, which will give you better contrast and a more refined picture for a fraction of the price.

Also skip this if you're sensitive to price-to-performance ratios. The QN990F is a luxury item, and the customer rating of 3.8 out of 5 from just 8 reviews suggests early adopters have had mixed experiences. If you want the best picture quality per dollar, the Hisense U8 or Sony BRAVIA 5 will get you 90% of the way there for a small fraction of the cost.

If you have a dedicated theater room, a huge wall, and the budget to match, the QN990F is a statement piece. The 98-inch 8K panel with Mini-LED brightness and that glare-free coating is genuinely impressive, and the built-in audio means you might skip the soundbar entirely. The Wireless One Connect Box is a thoughtful touch that makes installation cleaner.

But for most people, this TV is overkill. The 8K resolution is ahead of the content ecosystem, the lack of Dolby Vision stings at this price, and the customer rating of 3.8 out of 5 suggests early buyers aren't universally thrilled. If you want the best picture quality for movies and gaming in a normal-sized room, a high-end 4K OLED like the LG C5 will serve you better for a lot less money. The QN990F is for the buyer who wants the biggest and the most, and is willing to pay for it.