Samsung’s new 98-inch DU9000 Crystal UHD 4K TV is here and it’s priced at $4,000, making it the company’s most affordable 98-inch TV so far. Until now, if you wanted a Samsung TV in a massive, 98-inch screen size, you’d be looking at a starting price of $8,000 for the 98-inch QLED Q80C 4K TV. You can order the 98-inch DU9000 starting April 15, at samsung.com.
As 4K TVs get bigger, so does the size of the individual pixels, which can decrease perceived sharpness. Samsung says that the DU9000 is equipped with its Supersize Picture Enhancer, a technology that tries to compensate for this tendency.
The result, according to the company, is a 98-inch TV that can be comfortably viewed as close as six feet away and as far awayas 12 feet.
Thought not equipped with a quantum dot-based QLED panel, the DU9000 supports HDR10 and HLG HDR formats, and uses 4K upscaling to help non-4K content look its best when viewed at 4K resolution.
Samsung is also highlighting the DU9000’s gaming-oriented features like Motion Xcelerator, an up to a 120Hz refresh rate, quick screen ratio changes via the built-in Game Bar, AI Auto Game Mode, Mini Map Auto Detection, and Virtual Aim Point. Samsung hasn’t confirmed a full set of specs yet, but according to FlatPanelsHD, the DU9000 series uses a 60Hz native refresh rate panel.
The question for would-be 98-inch TV buyers, however, is how does the DU9000 stack up against similarly big and affordable TVs from Samsung’s rivals TCL and Hisense?
TCL and Hisense introduced affordable 98-inch models in 2023, and both companies are already offering steep discounts. The TCL 98-inch S5 4K TV, for instance, debuted at $5,000. but was then reduced to $3,000. If you keep an eye on sales, you may find it for even less — Best Buy’s price was just $2,000 for most of March 2024.
Like the DU9000, the TCL S5 doesn’t have a quantum dot display, but for the same price as the DU9000, you can grab a 98-inch TCL XL-class QLED TV. And if you’re willing to spend just a bit more than the DU9000’s $4,000 price, both TCL and Hisense have massive QLED models: the 98-inch TCL QM8 ($5,000) — which earned a Digital Trends Editors’ Choice award — and the 100-inch Hisense U8K mini-LED TV ($5,000), which also received our Editors’ Choice.
