LG and Samsung are big names in the world of OLED TV and often find their models among the list of the best OLED TVs year-after-year. Their flagship models – the LG G5 and Samsung S95F – were two of 2025’s top TVs, with the S95F being crowned TechRadar’s 2025 TV of the Year.
While I’m always impressed by LG and Samsung’s OLEDs, there’s another brand that I love: Philips. Not only does it produce strong-performing OLEDs, but it has one unique feature over everyone else: Ambilight.
I’ve spoken about my love for Ambilight before, which uses colored LEDS to project light from the back of the TV onto the wall, which can create a more immersive and cinematic experience, making the picture feel bigger. Pair this with the already spectacular colors and contrast of an OLED TV, and you’re in for a treat.
But for 2025, Philips laid down the gauntlet in another way. While you can expect to pay roughly £2,099 for a 65-inch LG G5 and 65-inch Samsung S95F, the Philips OLED910 (the G5 and S95F equivalent) costs around £1,799. Considering the mid-range LG C5 65-inch is around £1,599, with the OLED910 you’re basically getting flagship performance (it uses the same OLED panel as the G5) for a mid-range price.
Brightness
For all my testing, the TVs were set to Filmmaker Mode, which is the most ‘accurate’ picture mode and the one I use when testing most TVs.
Firstly, some numbers. We’ve measured the peak HDR brightness of all three of these TVs and, perhaps surprisingly, the OLED910 was the brightest. In peak HDR brightness test consisting of a white window that takes up 10% of the screen, the Philips hit 2,329 nits, compared to the G5’s 2,268 nits and the S95F’s 2,132 nits.
In terms of fullscreen HDR brightness, the OLED910 hit 406 nits, again edging above the S95F’s 390 nits, and comfortably stronger than the G5’s 331 nits.
How did this translate to real-world viewing? All three OLEDs certainly appear rich and bright, which really leant itself to brighter and daytime scenes. A snowy scene from Spears & Munsil UHD Benchmark demo footage showcased vibrant whites on all three TVs – but despite what the numbers above said, the G5 had the brightest perceived white tones for me.
In bright-room viewing, all three TVs did well to maintain visibility, though the G5 was the most reflective of the three, meaning dark scenes were tougher to watch due to reflections. The OLED910 performed well, but again was reflective. The S95F is the top dog however, thanks to its effective anti-reflection screen.
Colours
Starting with The Sound of Music, one of the best-looking 4K Blu-rays I’ve tested as part of the Blu-ray Bounty, the vibrant reds and yellows of the fruits in the market scene exploded on each screen. While the OLED910 had the most accurate image to my eyes, the S95F had the most striking. The G5 struck a good balance between the two, looking authentic yet vibrant.
In the Do Re Mi scene, as Maria and the Von Trapp children sit in a field by the mountain, the OLED910 delivered the most convincing greens of the fields and blues of the sky.
Again, the S95F’s were the richest with the most color depth, although on occasion the green did appear oversaturated. The G5’s colors looked slightly cooler compared to the other two screens, despite being in Filmmaker Mode, which usually has a warm tone.
Moving on to more intentionally bold colors, all three TVs handled the garish houses of the suburban neighborhood in Edward Scissorhands well. They popped most on the S95F, capturing the sickly eyesore colors of the houses.
In places, such as the vivid pink carpet of one of the homes, the OLED910 actually had the most vibrancy. But in a daytime scene, Joyce’s yellow car appeared punchiest on the G5, due to its higher brightness.
All three TVs demonstrated superb color reproduction, but I found myself most drawn to the OLED910, as it struck a nice balance between the striking colors of the S95F and the more natural richness of the G5.
Dark room viewing and contrast
Moving onto more contrast-heavy movies, I started with The Batman 4K Blu-ray. Due to its low brightness, I tested this movie in pitch-black conditions. All three TVs again demonstrated powerful contrast, but noticed that while blacks were solid across all three TVs, they were marginally raised on the G5, so had a touch more of a grey tone.
All three sets had excellent shadow detail, maintaining textures such as Gordon’s lapel on his black jacket.
The S95F had arguably the most striking contrast, with rich blacks and punchy highlights, whereas the OLED910 had what I thought was the most ‘film-accurate’ look, accurately capturing the grittiness and powerful contrasting scenes.
This was also true when watching Dark City on 4K Blu-ray, a movie with a lot of high-contrast scenes. As shadows are cast onto faces by lamps throughout, the S95F again had the highest range between light and dark tones to create the strongest contrast, but both the OLED910 and G5 did a brilliant job too.
Despite the OLED910’s higher measured peak brightness, the G5 and S95F actually delivered the punchiest highlights from light sources such as lamps and the neon sign of the Automat in Dark City. At points, the G5 showed slightly raised blacks again.
Still, all three TVs delivered superb contrast and rich blacks: as you’d expect from OLEDs of this calibre.
Motion and upscaling
I decided to test motion specifically on these TVs as I’ve often found that Philips’ sets require some adjustment, and that was the case here. Using a panning shot of a rocky hillside from No Time To Die with all motion processing turned off and the TVs set to Filmmaker Mode, all three produced some judder, but the OLED910’s was noticeably worse.
Switching on some motion processing to each TV – Cinematic Movement for the G5, Pure Cinema for the OLED910, and Judder Reduction set to 3 on the S95F – the G5 came out on top, producing a smooth image that avoided the soap opera effect. The S95F was similar to this, but again the OLED910 produced judder. Setting its motion setting to Movie, it was smoother but some minor judder was still happening.
I finished testing with some standard-definition viewing, using a DVD of Amazing Spider-Man. During my four-way OLED comparison, between the G5, S95F, Panasonic Z95B and Sony Bravia 8 II, the G5 easily came out on top due to its punchier brightness and cleaner textures.
The same was true here. The G5’s default Filmmaker settings still produced bold brightness and did a great job cleaning up textures, giving characters and environments a fresher look. Both the OLED910 and S95F did a good job, but the S95F was let down by its lower vibrancy. For colors, all three delivered brighter punchier colors, but again the G5’s had that added pop converting from SDR to something closer to HDR.
Conclusion
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Having put these three TVs side-by-side, all three proved they are phenomenal and you won’t be let down by any. One issue with the OLED910 is that it’s only available in 55 inches in some territories, and the UK isn’t one of them (and like all Philips OLEDs, it’s not available in the US at all) – so if you want a 55-inch, it’s down to personal preference between the G5 and the S95F.
The S95F arguably has the bolder colors and richer contrast in HDR, but lacks Dolby Vision. The G5 has the more natural image and rich colors with better upscaling, but doesn’t perform as well in bright or pitch-black viewing conditions.
That said, if you’re looking for a 65 or 77-inch OLED, my overall pick is the Philips OLED910. It delivers the most natural and balanced picture of the three, and with the Ambilight feature I love, it edges the LG G5 and the Samsung S95F. Plus, it’s hard to believe that for a 65-inch model, it’s £300 cheaper than the other two even with its unique extra feature.
The best TVs for all budgets
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james.davidson@futurenet.com (James Davidson)
