If you’re trying to decide between a Samsung TV and an LG TV, we’re here to help. These major brands have brought so many technical innovations to their TVs that many of their TVs make our best TVs list year after year.
What this means is that there is no clear winner here. Samsung TV and LG TV make excellent TVs. Moreover, both brands also offer a range of TVs with different specifications and prices, so there is often a TV to suit everyone, from high-end to budget.
The display technology used by each brand has differed for a while, with Samsung focusing on QLED TVs and LG making OLED TVs, but these days things aren’t quite as clear. This Samsung vs LG TV guide will highlight many of these similarities and a lot of differences between each brand to help you decide which TV maker is right for you.
If you’ve made up your mind on which brand of TV to choose but aren’t sure about the exact TV model to choose, check out our Best Samsung TV and Best LG TV guides, which are full of the best TVs from the past year.
Samsung TV vs. LG TV: Overview
Samsung and LG are two big tech manufacturers that sell some of the best TVs you can buy today for both high and low price points, though different panel technologies are used for many of their high-end sets. You don’t need to know what these differences are right now, but they could be a deal breaker.
Both are South Korean manufacturers that sell TVs globally and have a large presence in the UK and US – unlike Panasonic or Philips, brands that don’t have licenses in North America – with a large install base and a wide range of TVs launched each year.
It’s hard to compare prices, given how many sets Samsung and LG release each year. There would be no sign of budgeting an excellent value LG range against this year’s Samsung flagship and premium model. Both brands offer some of the best 32-inch smart TVs and the best 4K TVs through to some of the best 8K TVs for ultra-wide devices running you thousands of dollars or pounds. Whatever size, shape, resolution or budget you’re looking for from your new TV, any of the brands will have you covered.
Samsung TV vs. LG TV: Smart TV Platform
Samsung and LG both use their own Smart TV platform. Samsung’s Tizen and LG’s webOS are often seen as two of the best smart TV platforms. It’s fast and equipped with the latest apps, but there are some differences.
LG has pioneered webOS — a smart TV interface — since 2014. It uses a horizontal menu bar for commonly used apps, streaming services, and inputs, with a customizable placement so you can pick and choose where to put your favorite apps. dashboard.
As you can see from the image above, the interface has changed in recent years, replacing the traditional overlay of apps for a full-screen view that’s a little more spaced out, but it’s still the best Smart TV platform on our books.
Samsung’s Tizen platform is not very different in its design (you could say it was influenced by the first). The operating system minimizes clutter, although sometimes this works against navigation – there are plenty of occasions when it’s necessary to search for a specific app. Fortunately, this is made easier with the Smart Hub’s multimedia page that divides content from apps and from your USB drives/home network. The main difference is that its search algorithm is not as impressive as LG’s ThinQ AI software.
But what about voice assistants? LG’s OLED and Super UHD sets come with Google Assistant built in and some limited compatibility with Alexa-controlled devices. Samsung uses its own Bixby assistant (which is somewhat worse) than the first party, though again only for the mid-range or premium groups – with the option to use Google Assistant or Alexa through third-party devices.
Samsung TV vs. LG TV: Panel tech
Today’s premium TV market is divided into two panel technologies: OLED and QLED.
OLED, which stands for “organic light-emitting diode”, is a television panel that can emit its own light rather than shine light through it. The benefit of an OLED TV is that it enables ingeniously thin TV screens and the ability to control the brightness of individual pixels. OLED is known for its vibrant colors, deep black levels, and low brightness.
There is often talk of images “burn-in” on OLED screens, but a lot of this is anecdotal, and you probably need to work hard for this to become an issue. All OLED panels are manufactured by LG Display, so you have to thank LG even if you have a Sony OLED in your house.
QLED, on the other hand, is Samsung’s proprietary technology. QLED uses a quantum dot filter to improve color and contrast and does many zones of dimming to change the brightness across the screen – rather than being able to do it pixel by pixel. QLED TVs are also much brighter than OLEDs (thousands of nits versus hundreds) though they can struggle to effectively show both light and dark images at the same time as a result.
We’ve gone into this discussion in more detail in our QLED vs OLED guide. Suffice it to say that OLED is generally well-suited for high-quality video formats in dark viewing environments, while Samsung lags behind on contrast (relatively) but makes up for it with a bright, impressive display.
However, Samsung is indulging in OLED TVs, having launched the Samsung S95B in 2022. Although technically it is what Samsung calls QD-OLED. Because in this display is a completely new type of OLED technology – one that combines the famous self-emissive properties of OLED with the brightness and color range potential of QLED.
It’s also worth noting that LG may be the name behind OLED panels, but they also have a type of display technology called NanoCell, which is similar to QLED. In NanoCell TVs, there is a layer of nanoparticles between the LED backlight and the screen, which can enhance contrast and color. NanoCell TVs tend to be cheaper than OLED panels and have many of the same advantages as QLED TVs.
Samsung TV vs. LG TV: Formats
Both TV brands support a slightly different High Dynamic Range (HDR) format, with LG bundling Dolby Vision into its premium range of OLEDs and Super UHDs, while Samsung prefers HDR10+ for its premium TVs.
Both formats use what’s called dynamic metadata to tailor the TV’s output to the content shown, so scenes of dark underground caverns or well-lit drawing rooms vary brightness levels, contrast, and image processing accordingly.
Dolby Vision is really a more advanced format, with 12-bit color gamut instead of 10-bit HDR10+, and it’s also more popular (Google Chromecast with Google TV and Apple TV 4K both benefit from Dolby Vision).
Admittedly, preferred HDR format is only a real concern at the higher end of the price range, but those who spend big should think carefully about which services they’re likely to want HDR content on.
It’s also worth noting that Panasonic has no loyalty to one HDR format or another, and even the affordable Panasonic GX800 LED TV supports both Dolby Vision and HDR10+.
Samsung TV vs. LG TV: Which one to choose?
Samsung is currently the market leader, but which TV brand you choose is entirely up to you, your preferences and whether any of the differences we’ve highlighted above are deal-breakers for you. It’s worth keeping in mind, though, that you’ll want to compare like vs. like. A high-end set from Samsung, for example, will always outperform a budget set from LG, and vice versa.
Having said that, if you’re looking for the best picture quality out there, regardless of price, nothing currently beats LG’s OLED panels for color and contrast (read our LG C2 OLED review).
In comparison, the best Samsung TV that can certainly light up a room, providing a pixel density increase above its competitors, take a look at our Samsung QN900B Neo QLED 8K TV review. We also love Samsung’s lifestyle collections, such as The Frame QLED 4K TV (2022), for combining performance with style. And mid-range TVs, like the Samsung BU8500, are really excellent value for money.
You can’t go wrong with a Samsung TV or an LG TV, but knowing some of the key differences between the display technology and the smart TV system and their formats should help you decide which TV brand is the right choice for you.