The 85-inch version of Samsung's flagship Neo QLED 8K QN990F. The 3000-painting Art Store, formerly restricted to The Frame TV, is now available across most of Samsung's new range. Photo / Chris Keall
Samsung’s 2025 range of TVs and appliances is big on AI - as is the fashion - but also has some everyday smarts. Here’s five things that struck me from the firm’s House of Wonder launch in Sydney.
Samsung’s S95D OLED TV was my favourite TV of 2024. Watching my actual TV (from another brand), I sometimes fume during the day as sunlight reflects off the screen, or at night, when the reflection of any lightbulb in the room bleeds across the display.
A review unit of the S95D, by comparison, came with a breakthrough anti-glare matte coating that seemed to be able to magically absorb almost any light. I had to point my smartphone’s torch at it from just centimetres away to force a reflection. No wonder it made nearly every critic’s top three for the year.
This year brings us the S95F, with Glare-Free 2.0 and a supersize 83-inch option ($12,999), which (its predecessor the S95D topped out at 77 inches). The S95F range starts at $5299 for the 55-inch model. It’s not cheap, but the anti-reflection tech is uncanny. It’s unmatched. It’s the TV I’d buy if I won Lotto, simply because at first glance it obviously tops its already primo predecessor.
I’ve yet to see the S95F in an actual living room, or had the opportunity to play with the settings, but some of the offshore reviews have been off the charts.
TechRadar saw the S95D, “Delivering staggering brightness levels that produce punchy vibrant colours, as well as rich contrast, black levels and extremely realistic textures.”
And Tom’s Guide praised, “Exceptional picture quality, an ultra-thin design, a game-changing anti-glare display that’s significantly brighter than last year’s model, and easy-to-use AI features.”
Another change for 2025: Samsung’s Neo QLED 8K (pitched as dual flagship with the 4K S95F) has gained the Glare-Free coating as well.
Samsung’s The Frame was a landmark in overcoming the Partner Objection Factor (known as the Wife Objection Factor or WOF in less enlightened times). That is, when your other half isn’t so big on a big screen TV - especially if it’s going to be a lifeless black slab when it’s switched off.
2025 sees the launch of The Frame Pro which, like the original Frame, can display your choice of artwork on a matte anti-reflective screen when not in use as a telly.
The Pro models offer a choice of larger displays (65, 75 or 85-inch) than the “lifestyle” series of The Frame, which comes in 43, 55 and 55in versions in NZ).
Samsung has also made its Art Store available across nearly all of its Neo QLED and QLED models. That means, with its bezel, a Neo QLED has quite a The Frame look and feel - if not the various magnetic clip-on, clip-off frame options of The Frame proper.
And The Frame Pro series also get the new, wireless version of Samsung’s One Connect Box, which houses HDMI, ethernet, USB-C and other connectors) to the TV only needs a power cord, allowing for a super-thin design that helps to mimic an artwork - especially if you want to hang it flush against the wall
The Wireless One Connect Box will work anywhere within 10m of your TV. It’s also available for the new Neo QLED 8K QN990F.
All five HDMI connections on the Wireless One Connect support up to 8K/120Hz and 4K/240Hz frame rates over Wi-Fi 7 (the former is claimed as a world first for wireless).
Reviewers have found the lag time from 35 milliseconds to sub-10ms (a millisecond being a thousandth of a second). That is, it won’t be of concern unless you’re a wolf-eyed professional online gamer.
The Wireless One Connect Box looks like it will be great for delcutter and increasing placement options, but like any Wi-Fi device, exact performance will depend on distance and housing. A metal enclosure is a no-no, and you won’t want to stick it behind a concrete wall.
The Neo QLED 8K series brings Samsung’s Art Store to 8K displays for the first time, alongside Vision AI’s new Generative Wallpaper feature, which lets you create your own on-screen art pieces based on your preferences.
Artificial intelligence is imbued through the South Korean giant’s new products.
Across the new TV range, it helps you match the best video and audio modes for different types of content. It can do everything for you or coach you toward the best selections for your particular viewing preferences.
Then there’s Samsung’s SmartThings platform, which helps your appliances, AV and gadgets work together. If, say, there’s suddenly a problem with your washer/dryer, an alert pops up on your smart TV, if you happen to be watching it at the time.
And your smart fridge can not only suggest a recipe based on the ingredients in your fridge, but send the right cooking instructions - say, 40 minutes fan bake at 180 degrees to your smart oven.
For the most part, it requires an all-Samsung household, but other brands can be brought into the fold. For example, the latest Family Hub smart fridge can display video from select Amazon Ring video doorbells.
Samsung’s flagship Family Hub fridge now features a 32-inch touchscreen that can be used as a family calendar, to leave notes for other family members, display a recipe or, via its built-in wi-fi, sync it to a Samsung smart TV or compatible phone to continue watching, say, streamed TV as you move from living room to kitchen.
The fridge has a 25 watt sound system if you just want ot play tunes.
If you’ve got mucky hands from cooking, there are hands-free (wave a knee) and light-touch (tap a corner of the door) to open various models of fridges in the Family Hub series. Though then you’ve stil got to use your paws to grab something from the interior.
Hands-free opening a Samsung Family Hub smart fridge pic.twitter.com/ApK31sqPxZ
— Chris Keall (@ChrisKeall) August 2, 2025
There’s also an “AI Vision” camera that you can hold groceries up to as you put them into the fridge. It can recognise 33 different fruits and vegetables - the better to track how long they’ve been stored (and how long til they spoil), and help you generate shopping lists and suggest recipes.
But there are a couple of limitations. The primary one is that you have to neatly stack your fruit and vegetables on the main shelves of your fridge in the manner of an Instagram influencer. AI Vision can’t see into the door bins or the freezer, or into any scrunched-up brown paper bags.
And there’s no AI magic to the expiry dates the display shows you for items in your fridge. You have to enter those manually when you fill it with your supermarket shop.
But it shows where we’re heading with AI and fridges - and it’s a very Jetsons direction of travel.
Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.