Samsung S90C review: Strong competition

Jun 30, 2023

The Samsung S90C QD-OLED takes the fight to the ever-popular LG C3 - but how does it shape up?

Flagship TVs are all well and good for showing off the very best of TV tech, but the reality is they're not what the majority of people are buying. Look a series or two down from the top and that's where you'll find the sweet spot of price and performance for a lot of people.

The S90C is doing that job for Samsung's QD-OLED line this year - with Samsung doubling down on its commitment to the technology by introducing a second model to its range, compared with last year.

As you'd expect, it has a slightly more humble spec list and slightly cheaper (though still not affordable by many standards) price tag, and picks up where last year's S95B left off - with a few subtle improvements. How does it fare? Here's our full review.

Samsung's S90C delivers a bright, detailed and nuanced picture performance that really packs a punch with HDR material. Aside from some minor motion niggles and Samsung's continued lack of Dolby Vision support, it does plenty to give the LG C3 some tasty competition - particularly if you're watching in a bright room.

I tested the 55-inch screen of the S90C for this review, but there is also a 65-inch version and a new 77-inch option, which are available for $1899.99/£2199, $2599.99/£2999 and $3599.99/£3899 respectively (and already at the receiving end of a $200/£200 discount from RRP at the time of writing).

From a pricing perspective, that lines the S90C up pretty closely with rivals like the LG C3 and the Sony A80L - and I'd expect, even with more price fluctuations in the coming months, that you will find these prices all stay in and around the same point to remain competitive.

From a looks perspective, the S90C gives a sizeable nod to last year's S95B, with a slim silver trim around the edge of the screen, a super slender side profile and a very neat handling of the connections "bump" at the back.

That bump tells us there's no One Connect Box here - that's reserved for the S95C this year - but the S90C could still easily be wall mounted at just shy of 4cm deep.

However, if you choose to place use the stand, it's this that gives away the S90C's true identity. In place of the, arguably prettier, central metal plinth from the S95B (and the S95C for that matter), there are two slender black feet. These are narrowly placed for easy fitting on even the smallest of TV stands, and simply clip into the TV, making set up quick and easy.

Connections are great, with four HDMI 2.1 ports supporting 4K/144Hz, two USB 2.0 ports, one digital optical input, twin tuners for terrestrial and satellite signals, with wireless connections handled by Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and AirPlay 2.

You get two remotes in the box, as usual. First up is the standard functional Samsung remote that has been included with all of its products since the beginning of time, as well as the much smaller, simpler Solar Cell remote. This doesn't need alkaline batteries and will charge using a panel on the back via the light in your home, lasting up to two years on a full charge.

This has shortcut buttons for Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ and Samsung's TV Plus service, as well as simple controls for volume, channel and navigation. Depending on how big your hands are, some people might find it just a touch too compact, but it's a small grumble at best.

The S90C uses a QD-OLED screen, so it works slightly differently to traditional OLEDs from the likes of LG. Samsung uses an added layer of quantum dots for the red and green subpixels, technology borrowed from its QLED range, and a blue OLED light in place of a white one for a pure RGB result.

This all should, ultimately, lead to greater colour volume and brighter pictures. Pricier OLEDs like the LG G3 are using newer Micro Lens Array tech to try to match it (and doing a good job too), but that's not found in the S90C's more direct rival, the LG C3.

Running things here is Samsung's 4K Neural Quantum processor, which supports the picture processing and upscaling, as well as keeps the Tizen OS running relatively smoothly - if not the quickest.

Tizen is back to a full-screen operating system once again this year, with the home screen offering up a rail of available apps - which includes all of the best streaming services you could want - your current source, some "On Now" picks and rails of recommendations. It's relatively straightforward to navigate, and content surfaced was relevant and appropriate.

Settings are served up in a quick action bar with simplified options, and this can be customised to suit your needs. For example, burying the "all settings" option right at the end of the settings shortcut menu was annoying for me, so I moved it up to the top to make it easier to dive in and out.

Off to the side is a slim menu, which can take you to the Game Hub for viewing connected consoles and streamed gaming services. ALLM and VRR is fully supported here, along with FreeSync Premium and Motion Xcelerator Turbo Pro 144Hz for the PC gamers among you.

The dedicated Games mode will deliver a speedy input lag of just over 9ms, while the Game Bar will give you at-a-glance stats and additional game settings for your TV, and an easy way to tweak them. As ever, Samsung has catered wonderfully to anyone buying this TV to game on.

HDR support remains the most controversial aspect of Samsung TVs, with a continued blindspot for Dolby Vision and a doubled down commitment to its lesser-used rival, HDR10+. It remains a shame to not see it included and is a consideration you'll have to make if you're going to buy the S90C, or any Samsung TV.

To get the TV up and running and looking its best, Samsung this year is offering a new feature called Smart Calibration Pro. This uses the Samsung SmartThings app and a compatible iOS or Android phone to calibrate the TV's settings using a variety of test patterns on the screen. Once complete it masks those settings to your Movie profile with "(Calibrated)" after it so you know it's been adjusted.

In my experience, it made the Movie profile look very similar to the also-included Filmmaker Mode - a universal standard focused on delivering an accurate picture performance with no added processing.

Having not long taken the LG C3 off the testing bench, one of the things I notice first about the S90C is that it doesn't reflect as much ambient light in my bright testing room. Samsung has included a new screen filter on the S90C this year to help against this, and it seems to be doing its job. It's something I notice most in darker scenes, and helps to keep black levels looking deeper.

The S90C ships with Eco mode as the default setting out of the box - but for the best performance, you'll want to change that immediately. My recommendation is usually the Movie or Filmmaker Mode for the most accurate picture, but if you have a bright room like me, you might benefit from tweaking the brighter Standard mode to your tastes (changing the colour tone to Warm2 and turning off the picture processing is a good start) and using that instead.

It won't be as accurate, but I suspect all but the most ardent picture purists may prefer it in bright rooms - you can always use one of the more accurate modes at night when the room is darker if you like. My go-to for these situations is the Filmmaker Mode.

Alternatively, with HDR content you do have the option to change the HDR Tone Mapping from static to active, though this really does throw accuracy to the wind and goes for a very brightened picture, lifting everything across the board. It's better than going for the Dynamic setting, though - this is super bright but pushes colours towards the cartoon-ish.

I kick off testing with a 4K HDR stream of Queen Charlotte from Netflix and the S90C performs admirably. Landscape shots of the sweeping royal estates look suitably dramatic and packed with enough detail to give a great sense of depth and texture.

This is continued up close in the intricate detailing in outfits - the edges of frills and ruffles are expertly etched, velvet jackets carry an almost touchable sheen and the detailing in silk gowns is perfectly picked out.

Colours are also really well handled too. In a scene at the orangery when Queen Charlotte is sent a letter from George, the red and yellow jackets of the palace staff pack plenty of punch against the backdrop of lush greenery, while the pastel dresses of the ladies in waiting show the S90C can do subtle colours just as well, without ever looking wishy washy.

The colour palette the S90C makes use of is wide and varied, skin tones supremely well judged and the extra brightness here compared with the LG C3 gives some added colour luminance for sufficient "pop" when it's needed.

This all only steps up a gear when you feed it a 4K Blu-ray, particularly in the detail department. Wide landscape shots in Oblivion, for example, have an added sense of depth and pack all the more cinematic impact - but everything on screen benefits from the extra insight and fine detail that 4K Blu-ray can bring.

Panning shots of decimated Earth landmarks are relatively stable, but motion processing (found under Picture Clarity settings) does need to be switched from the auto setting or you will see some fairly obvious artefacts appear around moving objects.

To improve this, you can choose to switch it off entirely, or go for Custom and select between 1 and 3 on both blur and judder settings for some subtle smoothing and stabilisation. It's not as sophisticated, nor as foolproof, as some other motion processing you'll find on competitors - particularly from the likes of Sony - but it does the job well enough to not be overly distracting.

We switch back to Netflix and Seven Kings Must Die provides plenty of moody scenes to test out the black level and contrast performance.

In the darkness of Bamburgh Castle, the fire torches and candles that light the walls and tables pack just a bit more punch than we noticed on the LG C3, while not dropping any of the subtlety and nuance either.

At the other end of the scale, we might argue that the deepest shadow detail isn't quite as explicitly portrayed as we noticed on its LG rival, but black levels do reach as deep as you'd expect from OLED technology. Add that to the brighter highlight performance, and it does give the S90C the edge when it comes to producing an impactful HDR performance.

Upscaling here is brilliantly handled by the 4K Neural Quantum processor. While I mentioned above that you will find the very best performance with the very best content, HD streams from Netflix and Disney+ still look fantastic. HD broadcasts aren't quite as convincing but they're still crisp and stable, with noise kept at bay and colours remaining accurate too.

Standard definition broadcasts, as usual, are undeniably on the soft side, with fuzzy edges and muted detail. If you can deal with that though, they're still plenty watchable.

The sound system built into the Samsung S90C is a 2.1ch array, with support for Dolby Atmos using Samsung's Object Tracking Lite technology. This places sound virtually rather than using any upfiring speakers - and in fact, the drivers here face downwards, and are placed at the bottom of the TV.

That makes their performance all the more impressive. Dialogue in The Elephant Whisperers is always clear and direct, but take things up a notch with some action and it can handle that too.

Watching F9: The Fast Saga, a shooting scene is delivered with relative solidity and can take a decent amount of volume too. It's not as dynamic a performance as you'll hear from a soundbar - so you don't feel the punch and impact of each gunshot - but there's no fragility or hollowness here, even at volume.

Sound is quite localised to the TV though, and doesn't give a sense of scale much outside the dimensions of the TV itself. Dolby Atmos soundtracks do have a touch more space to their organisation, but you aren't going to be floored by sound effects being placed around and above you. You'll still need a soundbar for that.

The Samsung S90C is a fantastic choice in the OLED marketplace, offering a bright, detailed and nuanced picture performance that really packs a punch with HDR material.

Bright rooms will benefit from the new screen filter, ensuring dark scenes can retain their sense of black level when faced with ambient light, while colours are beautifully and broadly handled across the board.

Add to that a great spec for gamers, a well-specified smart TV system and a design that'll work for both TV stands and wall mounting, and you've got a very attractive TV indeed. Motion could arguably be a touch better, and we're still peeved by the lack of Dolby Vision too - but grumbles are pretty minimal here.

However, it's fair to say that the improvements found here are iterative at most when compared with last year's S95B - and now that TV is hugely discounted, it takes a little bit of the shine away from this year's newcomer.

Still, if you want the improved ambient light performance and the very best brightness levels at this price - not to mention the option of a 77-inch screen size in some markets - the S90C is a superb set that ticks a whole lot of boxes.

Verity has been a technology journalist for 15 years, starting her career working for the rather questionably named "Boys Toys" magazine, before its editor moved to an up-and-coming website called Pocket-lint, and brought her on board as staff writer. Fourteen years and staff roles at Stuff, MSN and What Hi-Fi? later, plus a 5-year stint as a freelancer contributing to the likes of Wired, Metro, Evening Standard and BBC Science Focus, she is back as Pocket-lint's reviews editor, testing the latest tech and heading up the site's review programme.In her time as a journalist she has covered the highs and lows across the breadth of consumer tech, and tested everything from smartphones and stereo speakers to robot lawnmowers and electric cars. She has a particular interest in audio and TV, which means she has spent a lot of time watching movies and listening to music and passing it off as work.You'll occasionally catch her on BBC Radio commenting on the latest tech news stories, and always find her in the living room, recalibrating terrible TV settings at parties.