9/10
Open rating explainerInformationWIREDIntuitive new OS. Excellent contrast and picture quality. Massive number of art images. New anti-glare coating actually works. High refresh rate for gaming.TIREDExpensive. Paywalled art work requires monthly subscription.The market for art televisions is hot right now. Amazon burst onto the scene with the Ember Artline, a svelte and stylish 65-inch model for only $1,100. Hisense and TCL also make low-cost models. But if you want the best, Samsung’s The Frame Pro is still king. Samsung offers several enhancements for the 2026 model, including a new user interface, extra AI features, and refined screen tech to make art look even more realistic.
I was already impressed by the 2025 model, which leveraged its exceptional contrast and solid picture quality to reveal beautiful textures in artwork leading to better performance than the TCL NXTVISION. For 2026, there aren’t any radical design changes, but the subtle improvements make this high-end art TV even more compelling. That is if you can stomach the $500 jump from last year’s model to a price of $2,000.
The Setup
Photograph: John BrandonThe two-bracket setup process is relatively straightforward. A paper template helps you align the screws and drill holes, but this YouTube video provided a much easier approach. I got the TV mounted in 35 minutes, which is slightly longer than 20 minutes it took to install the one-bracket Ember Artline.
Once mounted, The Frame Pro sits mostly flush against the wall, and you can use foam spacers (available in two different thicknesses) to extend the TV out from the wall. While the Artline allows you to pull the whole unit out a few inches to access the ports, you’ll need to unmount The Frame Pro to access the ports. Fortunately, unmounting is a rare scenario because Samsung included a breakout box, which serves as a wireless bridge to allow you to connect gaming consoles and set-top boxes without having to touch the TV. For me, I only had to worry about the power cord.
Samsung sent me the higher end Deco Burlwood wood frames (made exclusively for The Frame Pro) that cost $699. Samsung's standard bezels cost $199 and come in several colors but are much thinner. Both versions snap into place using magnets.
Photograph: John BrandonThe Samsung Wireless One Connect breakout box is the same one included with the 2025 model and supports Wi-Fi 7 to connect to the TV. The television itself uses Wi-Fi 5 for better compatibility if you use the built-in apps on the TV. I can’t say enough about how the breakout box provides flexibility and far less cable clutter. In contrast, the aesthetic of every other art TV when mounted to a wall is hampered by an array of dangling cords.
The breakout box lives discretely in my cabinet. I connected Klipsch's The Nines II speakers using an HDMI eARC cable for Dolby Atmos surround sound. If you use an AV receiver for surround sound, you may find that the HDMI 2.1 eARC port stops working when switching between HDMI inputs on the receiver. Instead, I just plugged my Xbox Series X and an Acer Nitro gaming computer to the two HDMI ports on the breakout box (there are four total, including eARC). There’s also a coaxial connection, an Ethernet port, and an optical port for audio, though I didn’t use those for my testing.
Samsung’s new One UI Tizen operating system this year makes setting up and using the TV a lot more intuitive. Rather than going through Samsung’s SmartThings app on last year’s model, the new setup occurs entirely on the television. It’s also much easier to find apps, browse through shows and other content, and locate settings. The only annoyance is that you’ll need to authenticate your account using a phone or by text just to get streaming apps and the artwork function to work.
The remote is exactly the same as last year’s The Frame, with dedicated buttons for Netflix, Amazon Prime, and YouTube. It’s small, light, and easy to use.
Testing the Artwork
Photograph: John BrandonI was mostly interested in seeing how the new anti-glare tech works on The Frame Pro 2026. I was pleasantly surprised to see new Star Wars artwork in the library. An absolutely glorious image of AT-AT walkers with a dark sky and brown tints matched the wood frames and looked hyper-realistic with the TV’s subtle matte finish. I was sold, and this was before viewing several masterpieces from Van Gogh, AI-generated images, and my own photos.
Beyond the monthly rotation of 30 free images, to get access to the entire library of artwork, you’ll need to pay a $4.99 monthly subscription. Rivals offer more value here. Amazon includes 2,000 free art images with the Artline, and TCL includes 350 on the NXTVISION.
With the recent release of the Ember Artline, Samsung now has some serious competition, especially with AI features. Alexa+ on the Artline does a better job of generating AI art using simple voice commands. The Bixby bot on The Frame Pro 2026 still uses keywords like "contemporary" and “landscape” to make AI images, and the results are still appealing even if the process seems less intuitive. Other bots like Copilot and Perplexity are available but didn’t help me generate art by voice. (My Copilot login did not authenticate, and Samsung is checking into this.)
Image quality is where The Frame Pro 2026 shines. The Neo QLED screen tech is far superior to the Ember Artline and helps Samsung justify its price premium. The new anti-glare tech this year further improves the experience. Even compared to Samsung’s 2025 model, Andrew Wyeth’s Christina’s World looks even more realistic on the new hardware. Additionally, the 2026 The Frame Pro comes with Pantone color calibration out of the box, has exceptional contrast and color depth, and ships with sensors to automatically adjust the display brightness based on your room. Even in a bright room, the AT-AT image still retained its textures and realism. Several masterpieces, including Starry Night by Van Gogh, looked stunningly clear.
Running the Spears and Munsil benchmarks, I found skin tones have a vibrancy and variance that the Artline (and every other art TV I’ve tested) lacked. A dark scene at sunset revealed more details in the shadows and dark areas. On competing art televisions, that same image appeared muddy in a bright room. A butterfly scene revealed good dynamic range between similar shades of orange and red. Only OLED models or a projector like the Leica Cine Play 1 or the Epson Pro Cinema LS9000 have more vibrant colors.
A feature from the Ember Artline that I wish Samsung would adopt is video artwork, where parts of the painting is animated and comes alive.
Movies, Shows, and Games
Photograph: John BrandonThe matte display and new anti-glare coating worked extremely well for artwork. But if you’re transitioning between art to active entertainment, Samsung also made improvements to picture and audio quality for movies, shows, and even YouTube videos. While both 2025 and 2026 models of The Frame rely on the same Neo QLED display technology, Samsung uses AI to improve picture and sound quality on this year’s version.
On the Netflix show Legends, AI processing was used to enhance a dimly lit office scene to bring up the contrast. I had a similar experience watching scenes from Awake on Netflix, which takes place mostly at night. I could still see the main characters even in darker areas of the scene. YouTube videos of WIRED interviews looked clear and colorful as well. In comparison, low-cost televisions seem more like a computer display with stark bright colors playing the same clips.
Samsung also leveraged AI to improve sound quality. In time for the World Cup, Samsung’s new AI audio feature helps enhance the volume of the broadcaster voices while lowering distracting crowd noises when watching soccer matches. For movies, the AI Sound Controller Pro sliders can help boost voices and reduce the volume of background music, but the experience is still buggy. While I could adjust the sliders, they’d always revert back to the default settings. Still, with Dolby Atmos support, I found myself immersed in the experience as audio emanated from around the room when watching Unbroken.
There were also several glitches I’ve noticed in testing. AirPlay worked fine, but when trying to use Google Cast to stream Alien: Romulus on HBO Max from my Android phone, an error occurred. Cloud gaming on GeForce NOW also presented with a bug that prevented me from authenticating with the service. Samsung reps are looking into these issues.
Despite the bugs, I’m convinced that The Frame Pro is a capable gaming display. Gamers looking to connect a console or gaming PC can use the Mini HDMI port on the rear of the television or the Wireless One Connect box. Both support refresh rates up to 240 Hz. I’m not a competitive gamer, so I stuck with the breakout box to connect my PC. I was amazed at Crimson Desert’s stutter-free performance. Everything looked rich and vibrant—there were also no delays using an Xbox controller.
I also tested the Aphelion using the Xbox Cloud Gaming app for console-free gaming. Other than slight stuttering due to lag, it all worked fine. Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, a game that typically looks washed out on some competing TVs and projectors, appears vibrant on the screen.
The Frame Pro 2026 is an exceptional art television, and it’s among the best I’ve tested. Improvements to the Tizen OS, matte finish with anti-glare coating, and AI enhancements make it even more appealing. My only slight pause is the price. The Amazon Ember Artline also looks stunning and costs about $900 less. But The Frame Pro is the one you want for absolute realism and vivid colors.
$1,998 at Amazon
