The Samsung Q70A delivers the bold colours and punchy HDR you want from a QLED TV, for a great price
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(Image credit: Samsung)
(Image credit: Samsung)
T3 VerdictThe Samsung Q70A offers big colours and bright HDR that’s ideal for a brightly lit room. Middling contrast and limited viewing angles are a shame, but when you factor in the gaming features and excellent smart TV platform, it’s a great value TV overall.
T3 Verdict
The Samsung Q70A offers big colours and bright HDR that’s ideal for a brightly lit room. Middling contrast and limited viewing angles are a shame, but when you factor in the gaming features and excellent smart TV platform, it’s a great value TV overall.
Reasons to buy+Bright HDR and bold colours for its money+Sharp 4K images+Comprehensive smart system+Good gaming features
Bright HDR and bold colours for its money
Sharp 4K images
Comprehensive smart system
Good gaming features
Average black levels & backlight clouding
Default motion processing is messy
Limited viewing angles
Why you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
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Today’s best Samsung 55Q70A deals$847.99ViewWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best Samsung 55Q70A deals$847.99ViewWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best Samsung 55Q70A deals
$847.99View
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In thisSamsungQ70A review, we’re looking a QLED 4K TV that might be towards to lower end of Samsung’s current range for price, but that still delivers the bright HDR and wide, involving colours that the sets are known for.
And the Samsung Q70A isn’t just focused on the screen in order to bring the price down either – it’s still packing plenty of eye-catching features up its sleeve to match thebest Samsung TVs.
Still, the Quantum Dot colour system that contributes to its QLED name remains the biggest draw, promising richer and more accurate colour than you get with regular LCD colour systems – it’s why so many QLED TVs appear in our list of thebest TVs.
But the Samsung Q70A also supports pretty much all of the latest and greatest gaming features, including next-gen stuff optimised for the PS5 and Xbox Series X, meaning that it’s a strong pick as one of thebest gaming TVsin its price bracket. And it features Samsung’s most advanced image processor, and its excellent smart TV platform – both the same as you’d find on its most high-end 4K TV, theSamsung QN95A.
To get all of these features in a big-screen TV that comfortably fits into the budget range of our guides to thebest TVs under £1000andbest TVs under $1000(for the 55-inch model, which is what we tested for this review) is even more impressive.
There are compromises, of course: you don’t get the same deep and even black levels that makes the higher-end Samsung TVs so good, for example. But this is a great-value TV overall. Here’s all the detail you need to make your decision.
(Image credit: Samsung)
(Image credit: Samsung)
Samsung Q70A review: Price & release date
The Samsung Q70A was released in spring 2021, and is available in 55-inch, 65-inch, 75-inch and 85-inch sizes. It’s a bit of a shame there isn’t anything smaller, because this mix of screen quality and features would be excellent in a more bedroom-friendly 43-inch size.
The current official price for the 55-inch 55Q70A version is £899/$849, the 65-inch 65Q70A is £1,299/$1,199/AU$, the 75-inch version is £1,799/$1,399 and the 85-inch model is £2,299/$2,699.
It’s also worth checking ourSamsung discount codesto see if you can save on your order.
Today’s best prices on Samsung Q70A at all sizesSamsung 55Q70A$847.99ViewSee all pricesSamsung 65Q70A$947.95ViewSee all pricesSAMSUNG 75 Q70A$1,297.95ViewSee all pricesSamsung 85 Q70A$3,299.99$1,597.95ViewSee all pricesWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best prices on Samsung Q70A at all sizesSamsung 55Q70A$847.99ViewSee all pricesSamsung 65Q70A$947.95ViewSee all pricesSAMSUNG 75 Q70A$1,297.95ViewSee all pricesSamsung 85 Q70A$3,299.99$1,597.95ViewSee all pricesWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best prices on Samsung Q70A at all sizesSamsung 55Q70A$847.99ViewSee all pricesSamsung 65Q70A$947.95ViewSee all pricesSAMSUNG 75 Q70A$1,297.95ViewSee all pricesSamsung 85 Q70A$3,299.99$1,597.95ViewSee all pricesWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best prices on Samsung Q70A at all sizes
Samsung 55Q70A$847.99ViewSee all pricesSamsung 65Q70A$947.95ViewSee all pricesSAMSUNG 75 Q70A$1,297.95ViewSee all pricesSamsung 85 Q70A$3,299.99$1,597.95ViewSee all prices
Samsung 55Q70A$847.99ViewSee all prices
Samsung 55Q70A$847.99ViewSee all prices
Samsung 55Q70A
Samsung 55Q70A
$847.99View
$847.99
$847.99
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Samsung 65Q70A$947.95ViewSee all prices
Samsung 65Q70A$947.95ViewSee all prices
Samsung 65Q70A
Samsung 65Q70A
$947.95View
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SAMSUNG 75 Q70A$1,297.95ViewSee all prices
SAMSUNG 75 Q70A$1,297.95ViewSee all prices
SAMSUNG 75 Q70A
SAMSUNG 75 Q70A
$1,297.95View
$1,297.95
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Samsung 85 Q70A$3,299.99$1,597.95ViewSee all prices
Samsung 85 Q70A$3,299.99$1,597.95ViewSee all prices
Samsung 85 Q70A
Samsung 85 Q70A
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$1,597.95
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We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Samsung Q70A review: Features & what’s new
As a QLED TV, the Q70A’s colours should benefit from more range and volume (volume being the combination of saturation and brightness) than regular colour filter LCD TVs. It uses a VA panel rather than an IPS one, too, which should result in a superior contrast performance. However, using a VA panel means that contrast and colour take a hit more quickly when you move away from viewing it straight on – though a low-level version of Samsung’s LCD wide viewing angle technology means things are a little better in this respect as expected. The Q70A is still a TV you’ll want to watch head on as much as you can, though.
Impressively for its money, one of the Q70A’s four HDMI ports is HDMI 2.1 specified, meaning that it can handle all the latest cutting edge video game graphics features. That is to say, variable refresh rates, automatic low latency mode switching, and high frame rates up to 120Hz with 4K games.
The VRR support extends officially to AMD’s Freesync Pro system as well as the standard HDMI VRR take, and unofficially Nvidia’s G-Sync system appears to work as well.
The TV even supports the super wide aspect ratios available with some PC games, as well as being able to pass the latest object-based sound systems via eARC technology to one of thebest AV receiversor thebest soundbars.
The Q70A’s’s Dual LED backlight means that the screen using two different types of LED: one delivering a ‘cool’ white tone and the other a warmer white. The idea being that having these two different white sources to draw on gives the screen much more room for manoeuvre when it comes to creating more accurate colour tones for different types of content.
Picture processing comes courtesy of Samsung’s latest Quantum Processor 4K chip, delivering such features as advanced upscaling of sub-4K content, Samsung’s motion processing system, dynamic contrast algorithms, high dynamic range tone mapping controls and an ‘AI’ picture feature that constantly optimises the picture in response to analysis of both the content you’re watching and your surroundings.
The processor also delivers Adaptive AI Sound+ technology, which again dynamically analyses both the sound content of what you’re watching and the audio characteristics of your environment to always, supposedly, give you the optimum sound quality.
The Q70A is a QLED TV, not a Neo QLED TV. This means it doesn’t enjoy mini-LED’s advantages when it comes to more local light control. In fact, it doesn’t even use direct LED lighting, where the LEDs sit right behind the screen. Rather it uses edge LEDs, where the lights are ranged down the sides of the TV’s screen – an approach that typically delivers reduced contrast versus the direct lighting approach. That’s really the major change here to make it more affordable compared to Samsung’s higher-end sets.
(Image credit: Samsung)
(Image credit: Samsung)
Samsung Q70A review: Picture quality
The first thing that strikes you about the Q70A’s pictures is how bright they can get for a TV at this price. This radiance holds up even when a bright images fills the majority of the screen, too; there’s no sudden drop off in the overall brightness as the brightness takes over more of the screen.
The Q70A can also handle intense HDR highlights despite using an edge LED lighting system, which inevitably doesn’t provide the sort of local light controls a direct LED TV with local dimming can.
To put some numbers on this, I measured a peak brightness output on a white HDR window occupying 10% of a black screen to be 660 nits. This is achieved in both the TV’s Dynamic and Standard picture presets. It drops to just under 570 nits in the more ‘accurate’ Filmmaker Mode and Movie mode presets, which deliver a flatter HDR experience. But all these figures are very respectable for a mid-range LCD TV.
The sort of brightness the Q70A provides feeds handily into its colour performance too, helping it hold on to rich, natural saturations at much higher brightness levels than most mid-range LCD TVs can. This again is key to delivering a convincing HDR experience – especially given that most HDR sources also build in wider colour ranges.
Detail levels are high with relatively static native 4K content, and the sharpness holds up reasonably well when there’s motion in the frame when using the TV’s Auto picture clarity setting. Samsung’s AI upscaling of sub-4K sources earns its corn too, delivering sharper, cleaner results than most rivals in its class.
The Q70A delivers a mostly engaging gaming performance, meanwhile. It handles VRR and 120Hz refresh rates with strong clarity and consistency, and colours are noticeably richer than you typically see on a 55-inch LCD at this price. It also takes just 9.5ms to render images when set to its Game picture preset, which is as low as it gets in the TV world.
While the Q70A ticks some key boxes that help its picture quality stand out from the mid-range crowd, it can’t completely escape its price-constrained specifications.
So, for instance, where an HDR titles carries really intense, aggressively mastered peak highlights, the baseline brightness of the image can take a noticeable hit as the TV seeks to accommodate a sense of the image’s extreme light range.
This can leave some HDR games, in particular, feeling a touch dull at times – though the results are still punchier and more well rounded than the norm for such an affordable LCD TV.
It can also prove difficult, predictably enough, for the TV to accommodate simultaneously its penchant for brightness and its edge LED lighting during dark shots. So, for starters, there’s obvious grey cloudiness hanging over dark images, especially with HDR content. This is particularly noticeable when you’re watching a wide aspect ratio film that generates black bars above and below the picture, or when you’re using the Movie and Filmmaker Modes, which deliberately limit the screen’s dynamic contrast controls. It’s an issue to a lesser extent with the other settings too, though.
The screen has a tendency in all picture presets to turn off the backlight completely during fade to blacks. While this certainly yields impressively deep blacks, the obvious brightness ‘jump’ as the backlight turns off and then back on again can be distracting.
You can also sometimes become aware of a delayed adjustment to image light levels during quick cuts from bright to dark images and vice versa if you’re not using the Filmmaker Mode or Movie presets, and there was some localised backlight inconsistency/clouding on the right hand side of our test sample.
So we can finish this section on an appropriately up-beat note, though, shadow detailing is still good despite the limited black level response, and colours hold up fairly well through the gentle grey wash over dark scenes.
(Image credit: Samsung)
(Image credit: Samsung)
Samsung Q70A review: Sound quality
The sound tends to fall away a bit rather than expand to another level with really large and sudden impact sounds, too, and bass is in fairly short supply, leaving action scenes sounding a bit thin.
Overall, while the Q70A is no audio star, it doesn’t succumb to any really distracting flaws. Which is more than can be said for many of its similarly priced, similarly thin rivals. We’d definitely recommend adding one of thebest soundbars for Samsung TVs, though.
(Image credit: Samsung)
(Image credit: Samsung)
Samsung Q70A review: Design & usability
The Q70A is a mostly attractive TV built almost exclusively around the principle of thin TVs being more desirable.
The frame round the screen is extremely narrow, and even more strikingly, the rear is less than 26mm deep without its feet attached. This makes the Q70A a seriously appealing option for wall hanging. Especially as the two feet it ships with are so plain that they let the rest of the design down.
The lack of a Freeview Play app can make finding catch-up content a little more of a fuss than it would be otherwise, but aside from this there’s precious little to complain about when it comes to day-to-day use of the Q70A.
One last factor to note that impacts both the Q70A’s design and usability is the way it ships with two remotes: a rather bland but still effective ‘normal’ button-filled one and a sleek ‘smart’ remote with a much reduced button count. Both work well, but the smart one will be the handset of choice for most households for regular day to day use. Especially as, impressively, the smart remote has a little solar panel on its rear rather than relying on regular batteries.
Samsung Q70A review: Verdict
The Q70A is an accomplished mid-range TV. Its picture quality is strong, its ultra-slim design is chic, and it’s unexpectedly well stocked with features for its money. Especially when it comes to gaming – it’s a great option if you want something big, affordable, and with support for the latest tech.
Home cinema enthusiasts may find it limiting – we have some suggestions for you below – but for more casual living room users (ie, most people) the Q70A has plenty going for it. Especially at its current prices.
Samsung Q70A review: Also consider
Serious home cinema enthusiasts fond of watching films in dark rooms might want to consider saving up for either one of Samsung’s higher-end models with a direct backlight (with the Neo QLED models being the best of these) or the entry-level LG A1 OLED TV, which is a small premium over the Samsung Q70A, but is a major step up in contrast.
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