I tested Samsung’s The Frame Pro and it changed my mind about the design-led TV range

Samsung announced The Frame in 2017 and the design-focused TV has remained a part of the family since. It wasn’t the first “lifestyle” TV that Samsung launched, with The Serif – sporting a more exquisite frame – announced in 2015 and the Sero, a TV that rotates vertically landing in 2020.

But I’d always looked at these TVs as a lifestyle choice and preferred Samsung’s range of QLED, and more recently OLED, models as the choice for anyone serious about watching TV. At the World of Samsung event, held annually to introduce products for the European markets, I spent some time with The Frame Pro behind closed doors to get to know it a little better. I now appreciate the talents of this TV a little more.

What is The Frame Pro?

The Frame Pro builds on Samsung’s The Frame, bringing the company’s Neo QLED tech to the display. That means it uses Mini-LED technology for greater illumination control and more enhanced dimming, while the colours are more punchy. It offers a better picture than the regular The Frame model.

It comes with a new One Connect box. Samsung has offloaded its connections to a separate box, allowing versatility in installation, because you can put the box somewhere else. In the case of The Frame Pro, this can be up to 10m away – and it’s completely wireless.

That means that all you need to do is plug the screen into the power and any other connections you want – your games console, your Blu-ray player or whatever – plug into the One Connect box. Sure, previously there was a “near invisible” cable, but now it’s wireless, using Wi-Fi 7 to send the signal to the TV instead.

But leaving those technicalities to one side, The Frame remains a slim TV, designed for hanging on your wall, looking like a piece of art, with changeable frames to suit the décor in your home and lending the TV its name.

Perhaps the biggest validation of The Frame’s existence is that the idea has been copied, with Hisense’s Canvas TV offering an alternative to Samsung’s set.

Let’s talk about art, briefly

Samsung has long been building links to the art world, using The Frame as a portal and making sure that customers have access to artwork they can display on the TV through various partnerships. The idea is that when you’re not watching TV, you don’t just have a black rectangle hanging on your wall, you can display this artwork instead.

Since the original launch of The Frame, the TV world has changed and many brands now offer some sort of “ambient” mode where you can display something, rather than it just being turned off. We’ll set aside any arguments about the energy cost of having TVs that are just on all the time for another time…

The big thing about The Frame – and now The Frame Pro – is that it has a glare-free display. This is something that Samsung has been bringing to all its televisions, but The Frame is a master. There’s almost no reflection at all – no glossy finish, no lights reflecting off the display – and when it is showing artwork, there’s a wonderful subtlety to it. It’s not beaming out, giving you an AI-enhanced HDR version of some classic painting: it just looks flat, which is what you want. (As it happens, there’s no HDR when you’re in Art Mode.)

I watched X-Men: Apocalypse on The Frame Pro, because quality matters

But the arty side of The Frame Pro I was totally familiar with. The glare-free screen I was familiar with – that’s the TV’s raison d’être. But with an Ultra HD Blu-ray player connected to that new wireless One Connect box – and X-Men: Apocalypse sitting in the tray – it was this that sold the TV to me.

The Frame Pro produces higher quality pictures than The Frame of old, with the Neo QLED tech giving better illumination, higher contrast, better colours and a lovely depth with HDR. This is also a display that now supports up to 144Hz, so there’s versatility if you did want to hook up a games console or PC.

Importantly, it doesn’t feel like the picture quality is compromised for the sake of the artwork, but at the same time, the art isn’t compromised for the sake of the TV content. Add to that the ability to have that wireless installation and you’ve got a TV that’s worthy of consideration. I found myself happily watching X-Men, rather than thinking about problems with the picture.

The technologies that Samsung puts into The Frame Pro, such as Vision AI (a suite of options using AI to boost picture quality and sound) are all here, while the interface is the same as Samsung’s OLED or 8K models. With a promise of 7 years of software support, this is a TV that could fit into you home and well into the future.

Importantly, this stylish TV is now so much better than it was before.

The Frame Pro doesn’t yet have a price, but the old The Frame costs from £499 (32-inch) or $599. See the latest price on Amazon UK or Amazon US.