Samsung’s 2022 TVs will get 144Hz support and a built-in NFT marketplace

It’s that time of year again: the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is fast approaching, and companies like Samsung are announcing the first details of their 2022 product update. This includes Samsung’s lineup of flagship TVs, which this year will see an iterative step up from last year’s models.

The line of popular high-end Mini LED 4K and 8K mini TVs (which she calls her Neo QLED line) won’t see any drastic changes this year. Rather, the line will receive slight improvements in picture and sound quality.

First, these TVs now support 4K input at 144Hz in addition to 120Hz. Unless you’re using your TV as a pro, pro, or semi-esports computer monitor on a high-end gaming PC, the jump from 120Hz support to 144Hz won’t make much of a difference. And even then it still doesn’t matter. Samsung is just looking for a place to outperform its competitors.

Perhaps more noticeable is the move from 12-bit to 14-bit backlighting. Samsung’s press release states that the backlight “allows the TV to control lighting in 16,384 steps, four times the previous 4,096 steps.”

As is often the case with LED TVs competing in the premium/high-end market, the improvements here are to address the inherent disadvantages of LED technology compared to competing technologies such as OLED or Micro LED. To that end, Samsung introduced “Sharp Adaptive Light Control”in this year’s kits. This AI-controlled feature analyzes “lines, shapes, and surfaces to control the shape of light from Quantum Mini LEDs, enhancing the brightness and accuracy of all shapes on screen.”The idea might be to reduce the stray lighting that LED TVs are still prone to (albeit to a lesser extent since the advent of Mini LED technology).

There’s also a new eye-friendly viewing mode, and there are high-end TV speakers that are key to good Dolby Atmos support. However, you will still probably want to purchase a soundbar or home theater system.

Samsung’s “lifestyles”like The Frame, which is meant to act as a kind of wall-mounted digital painting or painting frame just like a TV, now offer matte screens meant to look like painted canvases. The frame is now available in the new 85″size.

That’s about it for classic LED TVs, but Samsung is still betting big on new Micro LED technology to eventually outdo OLED. Newer Micro LED TVs now have virtually no bezels. Yes, you often hear this when companies talk about displays, but in this case they are not kidding; TVs have a screen-to-body ratio of 99.99%.

The Micro LED sets feature a wider color gamut, 20-bit grayscale depth, and a new 89-inch option in addition to the previously introduced 99- and 110-inch options. Samsung has yet to announce pricing for these TVs, but they will likely be out of reach for the vast majority of consumers.

Software improvements seem to be as important to Samsung as this year’s hardware improvements. The new TVs have an updated smart hub and home screen, and provide access to all the same apps and features as before (AirPlay, Netflix, etc.).

The new Game Hub allows users to run both console and streaming games (streaming from Stadia, GeForce Now, and Utomik is supported), manage third-party controller support, and view AI-generated game recommendations. There’s also a “Game Bar”which is used to adjust game picture settings and the like.

The new Watch Together feature is reminiscent of Apple SharePlay or the popular simultaneous viewing and chat features found on some streaming services like Disney+. And Samsung is adding a built-in interface for viewing, purchasing, and displaying NFTs.

This was just the first stream of information about new TVs ahead of this year’s CES. More details on specifications, availability, and pricing have yet to be released.