Best 55-inch TV: Quick Menu
The best 55-inch 4K TVs are a great size for those stepping into the idea of a big, beautiful home theater. 55 inches is the amount of space where 4K resolution, advanced HDR tech and super-smooth gaming features all really step into their own, on a screen big enough to show them off.
While you can now get plenty of screen tech packed into the best 50-inch TVs, 55 inches is where you're most likely to find next-gen OLED and QLED panels, because it's such a popular screen size, and balances price and scale so well.
Because of all this, the best 55-inch TVs have the most choice for options among any size range, really – both on price and technology. The best OLED TVs all come in 55 inches, for example – in fact, practically every one of the best TVs does. This can feel overwhelming, but a) we're here to help whittle it down to the most worthwhile, and b) this fierce competition means you tend to find fantastic discounts on 55-inch TVs a lot of the year, as companies battle to stand out.
We alluded to this before, but all of best gaming TVs come in 55-inch sizes too, so it's easy to find something ready for PS5. Oh, and if 55-inches still isn’t big enough for you, you can go all in with our list of the best 65-inch TVs and go big or go home with the best 75-inch TVs.
Matt Bolton
Matt is TechRadar's Managing Editor for Entertainment, and has over a decade of experience in tech publishing. He has been writing about the latest TVs and soundbars since 2017. The 55-inch TV list has had a few new additions and some re-arranging, particularly with, after some deliberation, the introduction of the Samsung S90C as the best OLED of 2024, due to its stunning picture and more affordable price for QD-OLED technology.
The quick list
In a hurry and want to find out the best 55-inch TV for you? Check out our grid below. You can still get to more detailed reviews of every choice below if you're looking for more analysis and prices.
1. Samsung S90C
The best 55-inch TV for most people
The S90C is our top pick, delivering stunning brightness and color via its QD-OLED screen with great processing, stacked with gaming features, beating most rivals.
2. Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED
The best 55-inch TV on a budget
The Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED is a feature packed TV with Dolby Vision and HDR support. It has a colorful yet natural picture and comes in a variety of sizes for an excellent price.
3. Samsung S95C
The best premium 55-inch OLED TV
Looking for an excellent OLED picture coupled with stunning brightness and plenty of features for gaming and movies? Look no further than the Samsung S95C.
4. Samsung QN90C
The best 55-inch bright mini-LED TV
The QN90C carries an excellent, bright picture that makes the ideal choice for daytime gaming and sports viewing for decent value.
Best budget OLED
This LG OLED TV offers brilliant picture and performance in a 55-inch size without breaking the bank. The LG B3 is a real winner at this price point.
The best 55-inch TV for versatility
The LG C3 is absolutely crammed with future-proofed features for a great price. It's ideal for movies, gaming, whatever – it's not quite as good value as the S90C.
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7. Samsung Q80C
The best 55-inch mid-range TV
Samsung's Q80C QLED TV delivers a colorful picture and 4K 120Hz gaming support across all of its HDMI 2.1 ports, without breaking the bank.
The best 55-inch TV for wall mounting
A stunning TV boasting a superb picture and excellent brightness levels, which has a special zero-gap wall-mount included in the box.
The best 55-inch TVs of 2024
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Best 55-inch TV overall
Buy it if:
✅ You want the best value QD-OLED: The S90C gives brilliant QD-OLED performance and picture at a more reasonable price
✅ You have a lot of connectivity needs: The S90C carries great gaming support including a 144Hz refresh rate and Samsung's Game hub.
Don't buy it if:
❌ You want the full QD-OLED experience: The S90C doesn't quite hit the brightness of the S95C or quality of the Sony A95K
❌You need the best smart TV platform: Although improved, the Tizen OS from Samsung could still use some work
The S90C is Samsung's first attempt to make its exciting QD-OLED technology, first introduced in 2022, more affordable without compromising on any of the quality. It mostly succeeds, which is why it's our top recommended pick for most people.
Although not as bright as the S95C, the S90C still offers a fantastic, bright picture that is complimented with rich detail and deep blacks. The LG G3 also provides a brighter picture, but both it and the S95C are much more expensive than the S90C, meaning you still get a brilliant picture without blowing your budget.
The S90C also carries excellent gaming features, with 4K 120Hz on four HDMI ports, VRR support and a dedicated game bar to make this an excellent choice for gamers who are looking to improve their gaming experience. However, like all other Samsungs on the list, it doesn't support Dolby Vision, but we feel the excellent picture quality and brightness more than compensate for this.
You may not be getting all that QD-OLED can offer (look to the S95C for this) but with such a big price difference between the two, the S90C really shows its value. Marrying the brightness of QLED with the detailed blacks of an OLED for less money is a welcome thing and it's this reason that the Samsung S90C is our top overall pick that we think would suit most people looking for a new 55-inch panel.
Read our full Samsung S90C review
The best budget 55-inch TV
Buy it if:
✅ You want a 55-inch screen on a budget: The Omni QLED gives you a 55-inch QLED display for less than the competition.
✅ You want a detailed picture: The color, sharpness and detail are all surprisingly great on the Omni QLED, considering its budget price.
Don't buy it if:
❌ You want the most intuitive smart TV platform: Fire TV on the Omni QLED can be clunky to navigate and a little slow at times.
❌ You want the sound quality to match the picture: Although it's punchy enough, the Omni QLED could benefit from a soundbar to get the most from your movies
The Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED is a feature-packed TV that offers plenty of quality for an excellent price. While it may not be the strongest performer in any category, it offers you serious bang for your buck, which is why it won best value TV at the TechRadar Choice Awards 2023.
Picture quality is one of the most surprising aspects of the Amazon Omni QLED. Its colors are punchy and dynamic, but maintain an accurate and natural look at the same time. Texture detail and sharpness are also well-balanced and again give a true-to-life look, with the Omni QLED's HDR picture being a particular highlight. While the Omni QLED's black levels can be inconsistent, with some black uniformity (the ability to evenly distribute black across the screen) issues, the picture you get for your money is impressive.
Gaming-wise, the Omni QLED isn't the most feature packed TV, as it lacks 120Hz support, but it does come with VRR, ALLM and 4K Dolby Vision gaming. Performance wise, it handles fast motion and graphically intense moments well and the same colorful and detailed picture whilst it plays movies is present on games too.
The Amazon Omni QLED isn't perfect. Its sound quality is direct but lacking, which means it could definitely benefit from a soundbar. Also, its smart TV platform can be clunky and slow to respond on occasion, but it's hard to argue against this TV on value for money. That's why it's the best budget 55-inch TV you can currently buy.
Read our full Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED review
The best 55-inch premium OLED TV
Buy it if:
✅ You want stunningly bright QD-OLED: The S95C offers an incredible level of brightness that is unrivalled for QD-OLEDs.
✅ You want excellent gaming features: The S95C gives almost everything you could need for gaming, and looks very good doing it.
Don't buy it if:
❌ You need Dolby Vision: Despite being one of Samsung's flagship TVs, Dolby Vision is still missing.
❌ You're looking for the best value: This is a fantastic TV, but there are other options like the S90C that are better value for money.
The S95B TV from 2022 was remarkable given it was the first OLED TV model from Samsung in a decade. But now the newer Samsung S95C outguns it in almost every department – even in bringing bright and colorful images into your home, which we originally applauded the S95B for last year.
Samsung has managed to find almost 40% more brightness. In our Samsung S95C review we said this is a "truly transformational" set-up. Especially when applied to a self-emissive, every-pixel-makes-its-own-light technology like OLED. We found that this impressive brightness is "particularly effective for HDR video, delivering a new level of enjoyment and realism and unleashing levels of colour volume and purity that we’ve never seen before from an OLED TV".
We also highly rated viewing angles, sharpness and upscaling from the Samsung S95C too. But as well as making your movies, TVs and games look fantastic, the TV itself is ultra-slim with a miniscule screen trim – a great option if you want to hang your TV on a wall. It's also stacked with gaming features including up to 144Hz, VRR, ALLM, AMD FreeSync and a dedicated Game Hub.
So why is the Samsung S95C not at the top of this list? It simply comes down to price. The Samsung S90C, which does top the list, does a lot of what the S95C does for cheaper. However, if you can stretch the budget, the S95C is a good step up and that's why it's our best premium OLED.
Read our full Samsung S95C review
The best 55-inch TV for sports
Buy it if:
✅ You have a bright viewing room: The QN90C's anti-glare screen make this an essential TV for daytime viewing in bright rooms
✅ You're a sports fan: High brightness, great picture quality and consistent images from all angles will get the best out of any sport
Don't buy it if:
❌ You want the cheapest mini-LED: There are more budget mini-LED options available, including the TCL 6-series above
❌ You want the absolute best TV: The Samsung QN95C is a better mini-LED and some QD-OLEDs do best the QN90C
The Samsung QN90C offers an extra bright, detailed picture that makes it the perfect TV for daytime sport viewing and gaming. Not quite as bright as Samsung's flagship Neo QLED, the QN95C, it is more affordable and still delivers fantastic specs.
Speaking of gaming, the QN90C offers all the options gamers could want including 4K 120Hz support across all four HDMI 2.1 ports, VRR and Freesync premium. With a respectably low input lag time too, the QN90C is well suited to next gen gaming consoles to really get the best out of them.
With an anti-glare screen and an impressive brightness, the QN90C makes short work of bright rooms. It also looks good from any angle, making it ideal for big groups to watch TV during the day and with good processing power and colorful pictures, it's a definite top choice for sports fans.
As we mentioned above, the QN90C doesn't have the same brightness as the QN95C. But it's our choice for best mini-LED on this list due to the price difference between the two for not a great deal of difference in specs, other than brightness and the one-connect box.
Although it doesn't deliver in terms of picture quality quite as highly as some of the other TVs on our list, namely OLEDs like the Samsung S95C or the Sony A95K, due to some backlight blooming issues, the surprising amount of gaming support and exceptional daytime viewing abilities make this an excellent TV. Those with bright rooms, this may be your choice.
Read our full Samsung QN90C review
The best budget 55-inch OLED TV
Buy it if:
✅ You want an OLED that won't break the bank: The LG B3 offers serious value thanks to its price vs performance.
✅ You need fantastic picture quality: Thanks to its rich contrast and dynamic color, the B3 really packs a punch.
Don't buy it if:
❌ You're looking for full HDR support: It may support Dolby Vision, but sadly the B3, like all LG TVs, doesn't support HDR10+.
❌ You don't want to buy a soundbar: The B3's audio is lacking sadly, so to get the most from it you'll need to invest in a soundbar.
The LG B3 does exactly what you'd want in a budget OLED TV – it offers brilliant picture and performance, while saving you money. Now, it's not the cheapest set on this list by any stretch, but it does give you that OLED picture quality that other TVs can't offer, which is worth that bit extra if you can stretch your budget.
When we tested the B3, we were surprised at just how good it's picture quality was. Black levels were particularly crisp and textures were sharp, yet natural in whatever movies, TV shows or footage we threw its way. In our review, we found when testing some HDR demo footage from Spears & Munsil UHD HDR Benchmark Blu-ray that "Night scenes within cities looked crisp, with the lights of the skyscrapers standing out from the black backgrounds. Colors were also dynamic within scenes of nature, with bright blue skies seeming natural against the rocky landscape below."
Gaming-wise, the B3 also performs incredibly well. Graphically intense moments (i.e. when there's a lot of movement occurring during a fast-paced action game) were a breeze for the B3, thanks to its 9.2ms input lag time (measured in 4K/60Hz) putting it up there with some of the best gaming TVs. It does only come with two HDMI 2.1 ports but apart from this, the B3 does support a lot of gaming feature. It has Dolby Vision gaming, 4K 120Hz support and a stack of other gaming features including AMD Freesync.
The B3 isn't perfect, though. For one, its stand feels cheap and its audio quality doesn't match the picture performance, meaning you'll need to invest in a soundbar. But considering what the B3 does for such a low price point, and the fact that it has been found to be discounted, it's fantastic for those looking for a 55-inch OLED with money to spare.
Read our full LG B3 review
The best 55-inch TV for versatility
Buy it if:
✅ You like a very good, all-rounder: A fantastic picture, tons of gaming support and a good interface make the LG C3 a jack of all trades
✅ You need lots of size options: Not content with being a top 55-inch option, the C3 is available in 42-83 inch screen sizes
Don't buy it if:
❌ The LG C2 is still available: The LG C3 makes minor improvements, but stays at an inflated price for these incremental changes
❌ You are expecting stellar audio for the money: The LG C3 has lots of sound settings, but it is still lacking compared to other TVs
2022's LG C2 TV, which spent a long time at the top of the guide until it was replaced by the Samsung S90C, is fantastic, combining top performance, features, and a good value price. The LG OLED55C3 is the C2's successor and we're happy to report it’s every bit as impressive as its predecessor, and then some.
We liked that the features and specs on offer here make this a versatile choice for both gamers and movie lovers alike. It has four HDMI 2.1 inputs with a range of support that includes 4K 120Hz, VRR, along with FreeSync Premium Pro and Nvidia G-Sync, and ALLM. Cloud gaming options include Nvidia GeForce Now and Utomik.
LG’s Alpha9 Gen6 chip used for picture processing brings new HDR-improving features including OLED Dynamic Tone Mapping Pro and Expression Enhancer, both of which have an impact on image quality. You'll get similar picture brightness to the C2, but the level of contrast, clarity, and definition it delivers is notable.
So why isn't the C3 higher up the list? Although still a great TV, the C3 doesn't quite have the brightness of Samsung's QD-OLEDs that give them the edge. But, in terms of versatility, the C3 is hard to beat with brilliant picture quality, gaming support and a wide variety of sizes ranging from 42-83 inches.
Read our full LG C3 OLED review
