The 8 Best Smart TVs - Summer 2024 Reviews

The best smart television we've tested is the Samsung S90C OLED. It's an amazing TV with a great selection of smart features, including support for Bixby and Alexa voice assistants. This means you can choose your preferred platform and spend less time searching for content and more time enjoying your new TV. If you don't want to use voice assistants, its well-organized Tizen smart interface is fast and easy to use. It has a huge selection of streaming apps, so you can quickly find your favorite shows. Its QD-OLED panel is extremely colorful compared to WOLED panels from LG, making it one of the most vibrant TVs on the market alongside other QD-OLED TVs from Sony and Samsung.

Like all OLEDs, the TV looks great in a dark room, but it's no slouch in a bright room either; it easily gets bright enough to overcome glare and bright lights, and its reflection handling is fantastic. Of course, you get perfect black levels when using it in a dark room thanks to its near-infinite contrast ratio, and there's no distracting blooming around bright objects in dark scenes. If you have money to burn, you could opt for the Samsung S95C OLED instead. It's Samsung's 2023 flagship option and is an amazing TV. It's brighter than the S90C, but for most people, it's not worth the significant price premium over its lower-tier sibling.

The Samsung S90D/S90DD OLED is available to purchase. It does a better job smoothing out low-quality content, has less banding in colors, and gets a bit brighter than its predecessor. It's also currently a lot more expensive, so unless you really want the small upgrades it offers, you're better off buying the cheaper S90C while it's on sale. It's worth mentioning that Samsung's 2024 OLED lineup is confusing, as they're releasing S90Ds with both WOLED and QD-OLED panels, depending on the region and size. You can read more about this here.

Although the Samsung S90C OLED is the best choice for most users due to its incredible value proposition, if you want the best home theater experience possible and have money to burn, consider the more expensive Sony A95L OLED. Compared to Samsung's HDR10+ format, the Sony TV supports the more popular Dolby Vision HDR, so you'll enjoy the most advanced HDR experience possible from almost any source. Sony's processing does a better job following the content creator's intent, so the brightness and colors of HDR content look the way they're supposed to. It also offers better audio format support than the Samsung, including DTS:X passthrough over eARC, so you can simplify your connection to your audio-video receiver by running everything through your TV without sacrificing audio quality. Overall, you'll get the best HDR experience possible from more content with the Sony than you would with the Samsung.

The Sony TV is also no slouch when it comes to smart features. It runs the built-in Google TV interface, which is slower than Samsung's Tizen OS but has more features and a wider selection of streaming apps. It supports hands-free voice control, so you can find your favorite content without the remote or use the voice assistant to control your other devices. Truly, if you're willing to pay its high price, the A95L might very well be the best TV around. It's available in three sizes: 55, 65, and 77 inches.

The Sony BRAVIA 9 QLED is the best TV for streaming in bright rooms that we've ever tested. Its superb SDR brightness and reflection handling make it easily overcome glare in the brightest of rooms, so you aren't distracted by reflections on your screen. As good as this TV is in a bright room, it also looks spectacular in a dark room. It has exceptional contrast that delivers incredibly deep blacks with almost no blooming, thanks to its highly effective local dimming control. It uses the Google TV interface that's loaded with streaming apps, so it's very easy to find the newest hit shows. It's also a great option for a home theater due to its support for Dolby Vision and DTS audio formats, so whether you're streaming your favorite content or watching movies on 4k Blu-ray, the BRAVIA 9 has you covered.

It's also a very accurate TV in both SDR and HDR, so the content creator's intent is respected. Its image processing is excellent for upscaling and smoothing out low-quality content. Unfortunately, its viewing angle is mediocre, meaning that it's not the best option if you regularly watch shows or movies with a big group of friends since the image degrades when viewed from the sides of the screen. However, it's a great option if you need something that pairs well with modern consoles. It has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, up to 4k @ 120Hz, and it supports VRR, making it fully compatible with modern consoles.

On top of those features, the TV has a quick response time for minimal blur behind fast motion and an incredibly low input lag for a responsive gaming experience. It also has good speakers built-in, which is great if you don't currently own a soundbar or a surround sound system. If the BRAVIA 9 is too expensive and you absolutely want a Sony TV, you could opt for last year's cheaper Sony X93L/X93CL instead. Although its contrast isn't nearly as good as the BRAVIA 9's, it still delivers fairly deep blacks in a dark room. It's not as bright either, but it's bright enough to overcome glare in a well-lit room, and you still get Sony's fantastic accuracy and image processing.

If you want an OLED that is more versatile than the Samsung S90C OLED but isn't nearly as expensive as the Sony A95L OLED, check out the upper mid-range LG C3 OLED. It uses a WOLED panel, which isn't as bright or as colorful as the QD-OLED found in the Samsung or Sony OLEDs above, so highlights don't pop as much in HDR, and colors aren't as vivid. But, the LG offers the same near-infinite contrast that OLEDs are known for, making it a fantastic choice in dark rooms. In terms of its smart features, LG's proprietary webOS smart platform is excellent, as it's easy to use, and navigating through it feels smooth. LG's remotes are unique because they have a point-and-press feature, similar to a Nintendo Wii remote, that lets you easily choose apps and settings in the menu, saving you the hassle of scrolling through everything with a directional pad. The webOS smart platform also allows customization with different profiles, so you can have a different layout than someone else at home.

The C3 is available in a ton of sizes: from as small as 42 inches to as big as 83. For something a bit more premium, you could also go for the LG G3 OLED, as its amazing HDR peak brightness partly makes up for WOLED's color disadvantage compared to QD-OLED. Like the C3, it's a great home theater choice with its advanced audio and video format support. It's expensive but cheaper than the A95L, making it a good premium alternative for home theater aficionados.

The LG C4 OLED is now available. It has marginal improvements in some areas and increases the maximum refresh rate to 144Hz, but it's also currently much more expensive than the C3. Unless you need those very small improvements or need 144Hz support, you're better off buying the cheaper C3 while it's still available and on sale.

If you'd like an OLED but don't need four HDMI 2.1 ports or high HDR peak brightness, the LG B3 OLED is a great mid-range TV and can serve as an excellent entry point into the OLED market. The TV has all the features of the more expensive LG C3 OLED, but the B3 is dimmer and has only two HDMI 2.1 bandwidth ports. It still delivers outstanding picture quality, especially in a dark room, with its near-infinite contrast ratio delivering deep, inky blacks with no distracting blooming.

Like the C3, this TV has a wide color gamut and is extremely accurate without any calibration, so movies look as the content creator intended. Of course, it's not nearly as bright as any of the OLEDs above it, but it's also significantly cheaper. Just like its more expensive sibling, it has Dolby Vision HDR and supports DTS advanced audio formats, with very good image processing, making it a fantastic mid-range home theater OLED. Finally, it runs the same great webOS smart interface as the more expensive LG, with the same point-and-press smart remote. The TV is available in 55, 65, and 77-inch models.

The 2024 LG B4 OLED is also now available and brings some improvements. It gets noticeably brighter overall, has better HDR gradient handling, and LG has upped the number of HDMI 2.1 bandwidth ports to four to make it more versatile. The B4 is also available in a new 48-inch model, which is great if you need a TV for a small room. Unfortunately, the TV is currently very expensive, so unless you want those upgrades, you're better off getting the B3 while it's on sale. If you do need those things, you can currently get the C3 for less than the cost of a B4.

The best lower mid-range smart TV is the Hisense U7N. It's cheaper than anything recommended up to this point, but it's packed with many of the same features as the more expensive choices and still provides impressive overall picture quality. Like the Sony BRAVIA 9 QLED, it uses local dimming to simultaneously deliver deep blacks and bright highlights. The local dimming isn't as precise as on the BRAVIA 9, so you do see some blooming around bright elements when displayed against a dark background. The TV also has a narrow viewing angle, so the image degrades when viewed from the sides of the screen. It's worth noting that we tested the 65-inch model that uses a VA panel, but the 75-inch model uses an ADS Pro panel instead. We expect the contrast to be slightly worse on the 75-inch model but with a wider viewing angle.

Regardless of the panel type used, the TV has amazing SDR peak brightness and reflection handling, so it easily overcomes glare in a bright room. It also has excellent HDR brightness and a wide color gamut, so highlights in HDR content pop out, and colors are vibrant and lifelike. The TV supports HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision, so you're fully covered when it comes to HDR formats, and it supports Dolby and DTS audio, so you're also covered when it comes to audio formats. The U7N runs the Google TV interface, so finding your favorite streaming services or content is easy. It also has good upscaling capabilities and very good low-quality content smoothing, so lower-resolution streams or movies on DVD look good, and it can clean up artifacts from low-bitrate content like cable channels or very compressed streams. The TV has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on two ports, VRR support, and up to 4k @ 144Hz. This makes it fully compatible with modern consoles, and it's a great option for PC gamers with high-end graphics cards.

If you want to save money, the best budget smart TV we've tested is the Hisense U6/U6K. Compared with the Hisense U7N, the main trade-off is that it doesn't get as bright, so highlights don't pop as much in HDR, which is normal for a budget-friendly model. It also has worse reflection handling, so it's better to use in a dark room, where it displays deep blacks thanks to its full-array local dimming feature. Unfortunately, there's some blooming around bright objects. It upscales content well, has good HDR gradient handling, and is very accurate overall, so it displays most content the way its creator intended.

Like the U7N, it runs the Google TV interface, which is very simple to use once you're used to it, and has a great selection of streaming channels. The included remote supports voice control, which is great if you want to find content quickly. The TV even has an integrated microphone for hands-free voice control, which you can turn off with a switch if you're worried about privacy. If you're a Costco member, you might want to consider the Hisense A6/A65K instead. It's just a bit worse than the U6K but significantly cheaper.

The 2024 Hisense U6N is now available. It's supposed to have an improved local dimming feature for better contrast and an increase in brightness, but it's also a lot more expensive at first. Unless you want those incremental upgrades, you're better off getting the cheaper U6K while it's still available.

If you want something cheap that gets the job done, the Roku Select Series is one of the best TVs for tight budgets. It's a basic TV that delivers worse picture quality than the Hisense U6/U6K, but this is typical of cheap models. It also isn't as good in a dark room due to its lack of local dimming, although its contrast and black uniformity are certainly good enough for a pleasant dark room viewing experience. It doesn't get very bright in HDR, but it has decent reflection handling, so it can handle a few lights in a moderately lit room. Alternatively, its SDR brightness is good, so it's more versatile if you mostly watch SDR content. It's also at its best when watching high-quality 4k content, as its image processing is disappointing overall.

As it's one of the two first-ever TVs made by Roku, it runs the Roku TV smart interface, which is extremely fast. It has wide streaming app selections, so you can easily find your favorite shows and movies. Its remote even has an integrated microphone for voice commands, which is great for a cheap TV. Even better, you can plug headphones into the remote for private listening, a great feature at this price range. Still, if you're a Costco member, get the Hisense A6/A65K instead. You can find it for a similar price to the Roku, but it's a bit better overall.