Samsung or Sony? If you're considering one of these two top TV brands, then we wouldn't be surprised if you're finding it tricky to decide which one is right for you.

Sony and Samsung are two of the biggest TV brands in the business. That means we wouldn't blame you for thinking they might seem similar. After all, they both offer a mix of 4K and 8K TVs at a number of different price points, right?

But the truth is they're both different. Although most shoppers will probably be happy buying from either, there are distinct differences in terms of which premium technologies they're pushing (OLED vs. QLED), how their sets generate sound, what format support you'll find, their processing strengths, and much more.

We put the Samsung TV and Sony TV ranges head-to-head

Do you need a Samsung TV vs Sony TV? If you're looking for a new TV, then you're probably weighing up the options between these two brands. But how do you decide which one is right for you?

Both Samsung and Sony make excellent TVs. Each of these brands feature in our best TVs guide, as well as in our pick of the best gaming TVs and best 4K TVs you can buy today.

This means most people will be happy with a TV from either brand. But although both Samsung and Sony make some of the top TVs on the market right now, there are some differences between their ranges.

These differences include the premium technologies they're pushing, like OLED vs QLED, how their TV sets generate sound, what format support you'll find, their processing strengths more.

For a more in-depth look at both TV ranges, check out our full best Samsung TV guide and best Sony TV guide. Otherwise, read on for our in-depth comparison of Samsung TVs vs Sony TVs, to make sure you know what you're getting – or forfeiting – by choosing one over the other.

Samsung TV vs Sony TV: overview

Let's begin by looking at the brands. Samsung is a South Korean manufacturer, and by far the largest maker of televisions worldwide, followed next by LG and TCL. However, Sony isn't far behind – and the Japanese manufacturer is still a force to contend with.

Sony and Samsung cater to budgets of all sizes, and manufacture everything from 32-inch TVs through to huge 75-inch screens – there are even a few 85-inch models now available from both brands, too.

They sell televisions globally, with presences in both the UK and US – unlike Panasonic or Philips, brands which don’t have licenses in North America.

Samsung TV vs Sony TV: features

Both brands use different operating systems to run their smart TVs.

Samsung goes with the Tizen OS smart platform for the majority of its new TVs. We've found Tizen to be fast to navigate and generally uncluttered. There's a constantly refreshing 'recent' box that enables you to keep track of your most-used apps, too.

Overall, Tizen brings you a pretty competent experience, though the universal search function isn't as accomplished as LG's webOS platform.

Sony, on the other hand, uses Android TV, which offers more content and menu panes than its competitor. It's a bit more cluttered, but that also means there's more at your fingertips to choose from.

For UK viewers, Sony's Android TV has rather cleverly layered a YouView program guide platform on top, deftly addressing one of Android TV’s big weaknesses – catch-up TV provision. This YouView app ensures that all the main catch-up services are provided, and accessible via a roll-back 7-day EPG.

What about voice assistants? Many Sony TVs come with Google Assistant integration. This makes sense given Android TV is a Google-developed platform.

However, Sony added an Amazon Alexa Music, Cameras and TV Control app to its more recent TVs, and some mid-range models from previous years. This will let you control third-party smart home products and speakers through some basic Alexa capability – like the Amazon Echo or Ring security cameras – and use Alexa voice commands for the TV's power and volume functions.

Samsung's Bixby voice assistant can be found on mid-range sets and above, though it's known to lag behind Alexa or Google Assistant in terms of smarts or voice recognition. However, it's more than enough for the minimal TV controls you're likely to be using Bixby for – and you can always link up your television with an Alexa speaker if you really want to.

Samsung TV vs Sony TV: panel technologies

Today’s premium television market is divided into two panel technologies: OLED and QLED (basically an LED-LCD screen with quantum dots).

QLED is mostly (although not exclusively) used in Samsung TVs and the brand has been pushing its QLED screens for years now, which are known for their bright 1,000-2,000 nit screens, enabling vivid HDR scenes and high impact TV images.

They're certainly a lot brighter than the OLED (organic LED) displays used by Sony for its high-end sets, which struggle to get brighter than around 800 nits – though it's not quite a fair comparison.

While OLED screens tend to be dimmer, they achieve a much more natural color contrast, given the organic film used in production. OLED displays are also self-emissive, meaning that each individual pixel emits its own light, allowing for incredibly precise control of light and darkness across the screen. Blacks really look like blacks, and while overall brightness suffers, the bright sections also don't bleed into surrounding areas of the screen (as is often the case with LED).

Samsung TV vs Sony TV: picture quality

If you're buying a mid-range television up to one of the top-of-the-line sets, it will likely come with support for high dynamic range (HDR), but you may not realize that HDR comes in several different forms.

There's a base HDR10 format supported on every HDR TV – which has a wider color gamut and improved contrast compared to regular SDR television. Most TV content these days is still in SDR, but more movies, shows and programes are made in HDR every year.

But beyond that are two HDR formats that add 'dynamic metadata' to improve TV images by altering the TV's picture settings depending on the scene you're watching and the kinds of images onscreen.

The first was Dolby Vision, which is backed by Sony as well as LG, and found in TVs across Vizeo, TCL, and Hisense among others. Then there's HDR10+, which is backed by Samsung and Panasonic – though the latter has now pivoted to offer both formats on its mid-range and premium TVs.

The quick version? Samsung TVs have HDR10+, and Sony TVs have Dolby Vision.

Dolby Vision is really the more advanced format, with 12-bit color gamut instead of the 10-bit HDR10+, and is also more commonly found (both the Google Chromecast with Google TV and Apple TV 4K take advantage of Dolby Vision).

Admittedly, preferred HDR format is only really a concern at the higher end of the price range, but those spending big should think carefully about which services they’re likely to want HDR content on.

Samsung TV vs Sony TV: audio performance

Sony and Samsung are at loggerheads over the best solutions for built-in audio.

Sony has been shipping sets with its Acoustic Surface Audio technology for a few years now, which vibrates the TV panel itself to emit sound. It sounds like a smart solution on the surface, though glass isn't usually the best material for channeling audio – and the sound can be somewhat imprecise. Nonetheless, you'll find it in most of Sony's premium television lineup these days.

Samsung’s rival TV sound system is OTS (Object Tracking Sound), which, like Acoustic Surface Audio, adds directionality to onscreen movement. It uses software allied to tiny conventional drivers to achieve the effect.

These features are very much at the premium end, though – largely for 8K QLEDs for Samsung and 4K OLEDs for Sony – and there's far less difference between the TV brands' average 20W speakers at the mid-range.

SAMSUNG TV

PROS→

1. Best-in-class QLED displays with quantum-dot enhancement

2. Great smart TV platform

3. Deep smart home integration

4. Full smart TV experience even on less expensive models

CONS→

1. Bixby voice assistant is less polished than Alexa or Google Assistant

2. Sets sacrifice Dolby Vision for Samsung's own HDR10+

Samsung is a major player in the TV world, in part, because its quantum-dot-enhanced LED displays offer great picture quality without the expense of OLED. And with brighter backlighting and wide viewing angles, Samsung's QLED TVs even surpass OLED in some ways. Samsung's smart TV experience is rich and full-featured, with some of the best smart home integration we've seen, even on affordable models. While Samsung TVs have their issues, like the lackluster Bixby smart assistant and a lack of Dolby Vision support in favor of Samsung's proprietary HDR10+ format, it's still easy to see why Samsung is one of the best TV brands you can choose from.

SONY TV

PROS→

1. Superb video processing provides smooth action and excellent upscaling

2. Audio ranges from good to great

3. Android TV offers a full-featured smart experience with huge app selection

4. Built-in Chromecast and Google Assistant

5. Netflix-specific calibration mode looks awesome

CONS→

1. Prices run high compared to competitors

2. Older models have clunky remote control design

3. Complex settings can be confusing

Sony's TVs deliver some of the best picture and sound available, with impeccable OLED sets and superb LCD TVs. The smart TV experience is also very good, with the vastly improved Android TV Oreo and Pie platforms, which come with built-in Google Assistant and Chromecast. And for the best Netflix experience you can get, Sony's Netflix Calibrated mode is a brand exclusive. However, Sony TVs are consistently the most expensive on the market, and clunky remotes and complex menus are less than ideal, even if Sony is the best TV brand for unadulterated picture and sound.