Samsung’s new cheap OLED TV for 2026 looks set to get a big brightness boost — but there will be a catch

• Samsung has reportedly ordered new "polarizer-free" OLED TV panels
• This appears to be the new brighter and cheaper 'OLED SE' panel we've heard about
• These panels will be more reflective – and Samsung's lack of Dolby Vision is still relevant

We recently wrote about the arrival of LG Display's new budget-friendly OLED SE TV panel, which promises to cost less than current cheaper OLED TV panels, while being being brighter at the same time.

LG Display had already confirmed that the screen would be used in 2026 TVs, and I'm taking the leap to assume that means it'll be in the LG B6, the new budget OLED TV for 2026, which LG has confirmed is coming but said it won't discuss officially until spring, so likely not before March.

But it will almost certainly come to other TVs too, because LG Display sells its panels to other companies – we just didn't know exactly what else to expect to see it in.

A new report from Daily Korea (via FlatpanelsHD) says that Samsung has increased the number of OLED TV screens it's ordering for 2026 TVs by 30%, and it appears that this number includes OLED SE panels.

We can assume that this means Samsung's budget-friendly OLED TV for this year, the Samsung S85H, will include the new brighter and cheaper panel, then, hopefully adding a lot more punch over its (still good) predecessor from 2025, the Samsung S85F.

However, there's one downside to all this: reflections. A huge part of why the new OLED SE panel is cheaper and brighter is that LG Display has removed the polarizer layer, which is the primary way these screens reduce reflections, so that you can better see what's on the screen.

That's actually why we know Samsung is using these panels: the report says that Samsung's purchase includes "polarizer-free panels", and every other OLED screen uses a polarizer.

Removing the polarizer is probably the main reason that the panels are brighter than before, reportedly hitting up to 1,000 nits of peak HDR brightness, compared to the 777 nits we measured from the Samsung S85F. Polarizers absorb light as they work, so removing it is an easy path to brighter screen, even if it comes with the downside of showing stronger reflections.

Instead of the polarizer, FlatpanelsHD reports that this screen will use "a new reflective film" (which I presume is anti-reflective in practice), and says that this has a measured light reflectance of 4.4% – this compares to a claimed 0.3% reflectance on the new high-end Tandem OLED panel from LG that's being used in the LG G6 (which is one of the 5 TVs from CES 2026 we're most excited to test).

Is the Samsung S85H the cheap OLED to beat, then? Not so fast

While the increased reflectivity is the biggest catch with the new OLED panel, the Samsung S85H will have another catch of its own: its lack of Dolby Vision HDR support.

Samsung never supports Dolby Vision HDR on its TVs, and is all-in on the rival HDR10+ format, of which the company is one of the key creators. However, Dolby Vision currently has wider support among movies and shows on streaming services, even ones that support both formats.

The LG B6 is likely to use the same panel as the Samsung S85H, but will support Dolby Vision, which can make a real difference.

When our lead TV reviewer, James Davidson, compared the Samsung S85F and the LG B5 – the two 2025 models – he found that Dolby Vision made a real difference to the image quality compared to standard HDR when viewing the same video on both TVs.

That's because a major feature of Dolby Vision is how it enables TV to better adapt HDR images for dimmer TVs in particular. Most movies and shows are created for 1,000 nits of peak brightness as the highest brightness level, with all other tones calibrated from there – so if a TV can't hit those levels of brightness (as is the case with previous budget OLED TVs), a process called tone mapping needs to be applied.

Tone mapping means that the TV decides how to reduce those bright elements to something the TV is capable of showing, and if done badly, it can smoosh different tones together, removing detail from them.

Dolby Vision (and HDR10+) is designed to apply tone mapping based on the original creator's intent, so you can be confident that it's done well, and retains as much detail as possible.

This process doesn't matter as much on brighter TVs (though it can still be a problem, and is one of the things Dolby Vision 2 is designed to address), but on these dimmer TVs, it's important – and even with the brighter panel, these budget OLEDs still look likely to be in the zone where it makes a clear difference.

Still, we're really looking forward to testing this new generation of OLED TVs and pitting them against each other – hopefully this will be a leap forward for affordable options among the best OLED TVs.

Thinking of buying a new TV?

Try our TV size and model finder! You tell it how far you sit from your TV, we'll tell you what size to buy based on viewing angle advice from image quality experts, and we'll recommend our three top TVs at that size for different prices.

Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!

And of course, you can also follow TechRadar on YouTube and TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.