Samsung announced some sweet new QLED TVs at CES this year. For a couple of months we had no detail around when they’d make it to Australia. Thankfully today, Samsung Electronics Australia has cleared that up and confirmed that from April 17th, 2017, you’ll be able to walk into retailers and buy one of their latest and greatest.
This year’s QLED range focuses on picture quality and design, and comes in 3 ranges, the top of the line Q9, the middle Q8, and the lowest of the QLED panels, the Q7.
Vice President, Consumer Electronics, Samsung Electronics Australia, Carl Rose said,
Samsung’s QLED category is a milestone in our TV technology. It’s the pinnacle of Samsung’s home cinema experience thanks to the true-to-life picture quality, incredible brightness, and image detail.
QLED delivers an amazing visual experience through a refined and stylish design but also an incredibly intuitive and easy-to-use smart TV interface that anyone can experience – regardless of their understanding of TV technology.
Picture Quality
With picture quality remaining a top priority for Australian consumers – especially as Samsung TVs continue to increase in size – Samsung’s 2017 QLED range represents a major leap forward for Samsung display technology. The Samsung QLED range offers incredible colour performance, displaying DCI-P3 colour space accurately, and in a world first, Samsung’s QLED TVs are certified capable of reproducing 100 per cent colour volume. This means they can express a broad range of colours at any level of brightness, making them the ideal panels for Australians’ well -lit homes.
Colour volume refers to the depiction of colour at different levels of brightness. For example, a leaf can be perceived as different colours from yellowish green to turquoise, depending on brightness of the light. Samsung’s QLED displays can capture even subtle differences in colour pertaining to brightness – colour detail that cannot be easily depicted in 2D colour space models.
This innovation is a result of Samsung’s adoption of a new Quantum dot alloy material, which makes it possible for the TV to express a significant range of colour with great detail.
The new Quantum dots enable Samsung’s QLED range to express deep blacks and rich detail regardless of how light or dark the scene is, or whether the content is being played in a brightly lit or darkened room.
Furthermore, Samsung’s Q9 panel generates peak luminance as high as 2,000 nits – the brightest panel Samsung has ever brought to market. Similarly, the Q8 and Q7 offer a peak of 1,500 nits, generating stunningly bright images with no impact on their ability to deliver accurate and impeccable colour. With this improved Quantum dot technology, brightness is no longer compromised to boost colour performance.
QLED technology also ensures immersive viewing from a wide range of angles. You can still have a great viewing experience from almost anywhere in the TV room.
Elegance in Design
Boasting premium materials – and the Q8’s full metal design – Samsung’s QLED category delivers elegance and refinement that will look incredible in a range of settings and from any angle. Samsung has also given Australians the freedom to choose between the Q9 and Q7’s flat design and the curved elegance of the Q8.
Removing the need for ‘cable clutter’ and the frustration many Australians experience when mounting their TV to a wall, Samsung’s QLED panels feature a ‘Clear Connection Cable’ for a tidy, minimalist cable solution, and a ‘No-gap wall-mount’ (sold separately), designed for quick, easy, and flush attachment to the wall. The range also offers two stands (sold separately) designed to elevate and showcase the QLED TVs as the beautiful home accessories they are. Australians can choose either the ‘Studio Stand’, which resembles an easel holding a painting, or the sleek ‘Gravity Stand’, which is reminiscent of a contemporary sculpture.
Intuitive and easy smart TV functions
Samsung continues to push the boundaries of its Smart TV offering, giving Australians a simple, unified user experience through the One Remote, which enables the control of multiple compatible TV sources, including set-top boxes, game consoles, and UHD Blu-ray players, with the single remote.
The ‘Smart Hub’ interface has also been enhanced, making it easier to set up the TV and then find the content you love. The interface’s auto -detection functionality will automatically identify and label inputs, which means users can just plug in and go, while the ‘Smart View’ app makes it easy to browse and control content via a compatible smartphone.
Pricing and Availability
Now for the important bit.. price. Samsung’s new QLED TVs don’t come cheap, ranging from $4,500 way up to $40,000 for the top model.
The Samsung Q9 series will be available in 65-inch, 75-inch, and 88-inch models. The Samsung Q8 and Q7 series will be available in 55-inch, 65-inch, and 75-inch models:
- QLED Q7 55-inch TV – $4,499
- QLED Q7 65-inch TV – $6,499
- QLED Q7 75-inch TV – $10,999
- QLED Q8 55-inch TV – $5,499
- QLED Q8 65-inch TV – $7,499
- QLED Q8 75-inch TV – $12,499
- QLED Q9 65-inch TV – $9.499
- QLED Q9 75-inch TV – $14,999
- QLED Q9 88-inch TV – $39,999
Samsung have also provided an infographic to highlight the progress made in their smart TVs since 2012. 5 years is a long time in technology, so the difference is considerable. In that time, we’ve seen voice control, 4K quality and HDR come into the equation, as well as much faster processors to deliver a slick user experience.
