It’s an open secret — TVs are getting harder and harder to meaningfully improve, as we get closer and closer to levels of fidelity that the human eye can’t discern. That’s not to say the 2023 Samsung TVs won’t have hardware improvements, as they’ll all be faster and brighter than before, but it’s not necessarily the center of attention. At CES 2023, we’re seeing Samsung continue to improve their TVs as smart home hubs, making it easier to control a suite of connected smart home devices and adding more health features, including a telemedicine app.
2023 Samsung TVs’ Telemedicine app
Samsung ramped up previous virtual medicine efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when the company helped hospitals manage the nursing shortage and optimize their workforce by relieving them of routine tasks. With the Telemedicine app they’ve developed for their TVs, it seems like the company is trying to cement its place in hospitals and health care.
The Telemedicine app will connect users with doctors, and will make it easy to enter self-reported symptom information. Samsung says the app will then generate a list of relevant available doctors, at which point you’d be able to connect with one for a virtual exam within a minute. Presumably, with that kind of response time, that’s not limited to local doctors, so the usefulness of the feature seems like it would depend on how much folks lean on their regular health care providers. The virtual exam would be able to use self-reported information and data from a Samsung Galaxy Watch, which would mean Samsung ensuring that doctors and patients alike are loaded up with Samsung gear.
The Telemedicine app joins Health Monitor, which will also be found on 2023 Samsung TVs. This service can use a specialized camera sold separately to monitor heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, and stress index, all by detecting slight changes in facial skin color from circulation. There will certainly be questions about how well that technology works with different skin tones, or if it will be as accurate as optical sensors or chest straps, but either way sounds like another service and device that will work with the Telemedicine app.
Samsung CES 2023 TV Lineup
The 2023 Samsung TVs include updates to all of their longstanding line of TVs. Samsung has been hedging a little, producing costly no-backlight OLED TVs while developing less costly backlit technology, like QLED and Micro LED, that come very close to the levels of contrast possible with OLED panels. They are also continuing their Frame series for folks looking for TVs that work with their homes’ decor.
Although Samsung is yet to announce pricing information, these are the TVs in the lineup that we are excitedly looking forward to reviewing:
Samsung Micro LEDs
The new Micro LED line includes a 76” Micro LED CX TV with Micro LEDs forged from sapphires — shining bright in more ways than one! The new tech allowed for the development of a smaller and more affordable Micro LED screen that still produces high-contrast and detailed images, with a 240Hz refresh rate. The TV, which has razor thin bezels thanks to a 99.9% screen-to-body ratio, has also been designed to deliver a 2-nanosecond response time. And, for current Micro LED TV owners or those who have been looking into them, it’ll be handy to note that this will be Samsung’s first Micro LED TV that does not require professional installation.
Samsung Neo QLED 8K
The Samsung Neo QLED 8K will deliver improved 8K images using machine learning features that unlock image and energy efficiency improvements. One of the biggest improvements to one of Samsung’s most premiere TVs is in its use of 8K Real Depth Enhancer Pro tech, which can focus the backlight on 1,000 localized areas, instead of just 36 in the 2022 model. The more the backlight can be localized, the better color contrast is, keeping parts of the picture that should be dark as dark as possible, without the backlight bleeding over. It also features Quantum Matrix Technology Ultimate which delivers 4,000 nit brightness.
Samsung Neo QLED 4K
Samsung’s redesigned Neo QLED 4K TV also has a slimmer form factor due to miniaturized components and comes with productivity-enhancing features, like a detachable camera for videoconferencing and workouts.
Samsung claims the TV will have slimmer bezels, and improved image-quality thanks to features like deep learning AI which upscales image quality, and high-performing Dolby Atmos audio which can eliminate the need for a soundbar if you’re not looking to build out a whole home entertainment system.
Samsung OLED TV
After a few years of Samsung ditching OLED to focus on developing the more affordable options seen above, Samsung returned to OLED TVs last year, and is staying the course this year. The 2023 Samsung OLED 4K TV benefits from an OLED panel, which is still the best tech out there for contrast thanks to its not needing a backlight. This year, the TV will have a 144Hz refresh rate and a 0.1ms response time, reducing ghosting. That’s great for gamers, and Samsung knows it – their Gaming Hub now supports NVIDIA GeForce NOW, Microsoft Xbox, Utomik, and Amazon Luna.
The Frame
The lifestyle-centric Frame TV is back and upgraded. Last year at CES 2022, Samsung talked up new NFT features for that emergent art world — the NFT marketplace is still there, although it might not look as exciting as it did this time last year. In addition to hardware improvements, the Frame TVs have an improved matte finish, and more personalization options. New metal bezels and more realistic wood finishes will also be available options.