At CES 2024, Samsung made a slew of product announcements — from rolling AI Bots to refrigerators — but it’s the television category that saw the biggest updates. Every single series of Samsung TV is being improved to various degrees, and of course, infused with AI.
Transparent TVs Steal the Show
The big 2024 buzzword is “AI” but nothing at CES has gotten more “wow factor” than the transparent TVs shown off by Samsung (Micro LED) and LG (OLED).
It is indeed remarkable to witness a TV that’s “there” one-second and practically invisible the next, but we immediately wondered- what’s the purpose? Who would actually want this thing?
Most people put their TV on a wall or piece of furniture that borders their room, where the benefit of transparency is negated. For most people, owning a transparent TV would simply mean that we could see the wall behind it. We wouldn’t put the TV in the middle of our room simply to show off and outside of very particular circumstances (like weird room shapes and small spaces), we’re struggling to imagine its ideal use-case. And what’s more: transparent TVs aren’t even new.
But let’s be clear- the level of TV quality and transparency reached by Samsung is mesmerizing to see and an impressive technological feat. It’ll get the tech blogs buzzing while attracting limited consumer appeal, but it’s the direction of the tech that excites us…
Have you ever wanted your car’s windshield to overlay a map with real-time driving directions instead of glancing back-and-forth at a screen? Keep an eye out for ways that Samsung could integrate this tech into other product types and form factors.
Transparent screens appear to be a novelty right now, but we’re excited to see how Samsung will leverage them in the future.
Samsung Music Frame
One of Samsung’s best-selling products is their Samsung Frame TV, which is so thin and sits so flatly on the wall that it resembles an art-gallery painting. It even comes with a physical frame to maximize believability and includes an “art-mode” that ups the sophistication and ambiance of any room.
While the Samsung Frame TV itself will enjoy some 2024 updates, they don’t match the excitement of an entirely new product in the “Frame” lifestyle lineup: the Samsung Music Frame.
Much like The Frame TV, the Samsung Music Frame sits on the wall and resembles a framed piece of art, but rather than being a full-fledged TV when “on” it instead plays beautiful audio using Samsung Q-Symphony, replacing whatever bluetooth speaker is cluttering up your living space. Not only that: when paired with a Samsung TV, Soundbar, or compatible audio system, it can become part of your integrated surround sound system.
Love listening to music and enjoy the elegance of “The Frame” series? Or maybe you’re a “No TV in the bedroom” kind of household but looking for something digital to spice things up? The Samsung Music Frame might do the mambo to the top of your wishlist.
Samsung TVs Gear Up for AI
Nearly everything involving Samsung’s 2024 CES appearance revolved around seamlessly integrating AI into their products. Nowhere was this more evident than in Samsung’s 2024 flagship TVs, which are powered by the all-new NQ8 AI Gen3 Processor.
The NQ8 AI Gen3 doubles the speed of its NPU (neural processing unit) by increasing the number of neural networks from 64 to 512. What this means for Samsung TVs – most notably the Samsung Neo QLED lineup – is real-time image processing magic that will improve your experience in ways you couldn’t imagine.
Take for example live sports, where camera operators are focused on following the fast-paced action. What happens when the ball goes out of focus? If you’ve got a Samsung TV with AI Motion Enhancer Pro, that NQ8 AI Gen3 chip will identify these moments in real-time, sharpening and upscaling objects on Live TV to help your eyes capture the action in all its glory.
That’s a neat trick! But surely this isn’t the top of the magical AI heap we’ve been hearing about for so long, right? Surely there is cooler AI tech coming to TVs soon?
That remains to be seen. AI is uniquely positioned to identify, optimize, and deliver improved results for content already being generated. While many consumers equate “AI” with the likes of ChatGPT and other generative AI, the most readily available AI opportunities are in boosting today’s technology with marginal improvements in ways that would not otherwise be possible.
That being said, we’re pretty sure that Samsung has some more AI Magic up its sleeves… and we won’t need to wait long to find out.
Samsung Galaxy AI
On January 17th, Samsung is following up CES with its own “Unpacked” event where it will presumably unleash “Samsung Galaxy AI” alongside products like the Samsung Galaxy S24.
Although AI has been a component of nearly every Samsung announcement in 2024, most of them are in support of underlying features. We have yet to experience that “aha” moment where we see how Samsung will embrace and integrate AI in larger, more meaningful ways.
Will it come on January 17th? Stay tuned and find out!
OLED, Projectors, and Beyond!
Other TV-related announcements by Samsung at CES 2024 include an anti-glare feature on their OLED TVs (specifically designed for the S95D), the world’s first wireless 8K projector (The Premiere 8K), two new soundbars (HW-Q990D & HW-S800D), and software improvements for Tizen OS (Samsung’s TV operating system).
If you’re interested in snagging any of these products, you can save $100 by expressing your interest right now!
Otherwise, we’ll see you on January 17th!
