The 2026 World Cup is just around the corner, with the first match kicking off on June 11 (next week!) and while it can be difficult to choose what your next TV upgrade should be, at TechRadar we’re leaning towards mini-LED as the TV technology you should choose.
Not only can you get gigantic 100+ inch screens at reasonable prices, but their large full-screen brightness makes it possible to view sports in brighter rooms (perfect for daytime World Cup matches) without suffering from mirror-like reflections as bad as OLED. Make no mistake, the best OLED TVs can still be fantastic for watching sports: it’s just the mini-LEDs that cover a lot of the bases better.
Although we often talk about Hisense and TCL mini-LED TVs, thanks to their price/performance balance, I can’t ignore Samsung, one of the most premium providers of mini-LED TV technology on the market. In fact, the Samsung QN90F, last year’s 4K Neo QLED (mini-LED) flagship, remains our pick as the best TV for sports due to its superb motion handling, matte screen for reflections, and solid brightness.
But what about the brand’s new, more affordable mini-LED options? Fortunately, the Samsung QN80H and Samsung M80H have arrived in our test rooms. Interestingly, the QN80H is a Neo QLED, which uses a mini-LED in its panel, and the M80H is simply labeled “mini-LED”. So how do the two compare and are they a good choice for the World Cup?
The right televisions for the World Cup?
I decided to start my testing with a bit of soccer, to see how these affordable Samsungs could handle the fast-paced action. BBC iPlayer currently runs a ‘Classic World Cup’ channel with tons of match highlights from previous World Cups, so I used that as a test.
I set both TVs to Standard mode, as I find that’s the best mode for watching sports, and I set the motion settings to Blur Reduction 0 and Judder Reduction to 3, as I’ve found the latter to be effective with Samsung TVs in the past.
Throughout the various highlights I watched, including Italy v France in the infamous 2006 final, both TVs demonstrated solid motion handling, although the M80H was prone to stuttering regardless of settings. As players frantically cleared the ball down the field and the camera followed them, both TVs showed minimal judder, with no obvious artifacts. Judder reduction could be increased up to 5 before artifacts, such as ball ghosting, appear.
When it came to actual image quality, the QN80H had the most impact. It was much brighter with more vibrant colors, making the players’ uniforms really pop on screen. The green of the field was also more eye-catching on the QN80H, again due to its higher perceived brightness. The M80H’s image looked natural, however, with the green of the field appearing more true to life. The same was true with players’ skin tones. Still, the QN80H had the most visually appealing image.
New for Samsung in 2026 is Football AI mode, and while I don’t typically use AI image enhancements, I gave it a try. Not only did it brighten up the picture on both TVs, but it also accentuated textures and made colors a little more vibrant. It was almost contrived at times, but it was impressive nonetheless. The most impressive part was what it did for the commentary. The AI Football mode brought the commentator’s speech to the forefront of the TV, making it perfectly clear and did so without affecting the quality, as I found can happen with some AI Voice modes on various TVs I tested.
However, during my testing, one thing became very apparent: the M80H was prone to glare, even in bright scenes. In fact, for a mini-LED it looked very dim, especially next to the QN80H.
Light scenes and viewing a bright room
Measuring the brightness of both TVs, focusing on SDR and HDR full-screen brightness as these will be relevant for the World Cup, the QN80H recorded a full-screen brightness of 634 nits HDR and 325 nits SDR (in standard mode). The M80H, on the other hand, showed a full-screen brightness of 179 nits SDR and 269 nits HDR, also in standard mode.
Elsewhere, the M80H recorded a peak HDR brightness of 252 nits in Movie mode and a peak HDR brightness of 259 nits in Cinematographer mode, which overall are disappointing results. The QN80H, meanwhile, displayed a maximum HDR brightness of 1,152 nits and 1,149 nits in Movie and Cinematographer mode respectively: more in line with what I expect.
These brightness measurements partly explain why the M80H struggled with reflections in our brightly lit test rooms. When testing brighter scenes with these TVs, the brightness gap really showed up. Snow scenes from Spears and Munsil HDR images looked more vibrant and impactful on the QN80H, with whites much brighter than on the M80H.
In another scene, as a light-colored tree is hit by the sun, the M80H showed signs of clipping (where detail is lost in brighter scenes). Cracks or marks in the tree’s bark were impossible to see, whereas the QN80H did a much better job retaining these details. This used the 1000 nit HDR10 images from Spears and Munsilmy must-have images for all televisions. While the M80H delivered some bright highlights, like a sunset, well, the QN80H was obviously better.
Watching movies
I then tested both TVs using reference 4K Blu-rays that I use to test TVs. My first port of call was to “torture test” them with The Batmana dark film with low brightness that I’ve found can be a real banana skin for some TVs, especially the cheaper mini-LED and QLED.
One thing I found was that each TV benefited from different picture modes than the others. The M80H had to be in Film mode (Filmmaker mode was too dark) and the QN80H had to be in Filmmaker mode (its Film mode was too bright for some dark scenes). With these settings in place, both TVs had solid contrast, but the QN80H’s highlights made high-contrast scenes appear more dynamic.
I found the M80H to have more natural contrast, however, with its lower brightness suited to the dark nature of the screen. The Batman. It did, however, show signs of black crush, where details of Batman’s costume were lost when he was in shadow.
The M80H struggled in dark conditions because it doesn’t have a local dimming setting, unlike the QN80H. This meant that during dark scenes, such as Batman on the subway, a blurring effect was present, with the backlight appearing in dark areas, indicating poor screen uniformity. The QN80H’s black levels were much more accurate.
I then moved on to colorful scenes and the QN80H showed more vibrant colors. In The sound of musicwhere Maria and the children are at a market stall, the fruits and vegetables on display were bolder and brighter on the QN80H. They looked sharp on the M80H and had nice color depth, but lacked the visual punch I would expect from this scene. It’s the same story with The wild robot also: more dynamic colors on the QN80H, but beautiful authenticity on the M80H. Ultimately, animation deserved the much bolder QN80H.
Strangely, for colorful scenes, the picture modes were switched on both TVs. The M80H suddenly seemed much brighter in Filmmaker mode, while the QN80H suited the more dynamic Film mode. The other modes didn’t look bad, but the bright colors all needed more vibrancy.
As for the TV I would recommend, it’s the QN80H. The M80H produces natural images, but it’s just not as good for movies as the QN80H and it doesn’t have the motion handling or brightness of the QN80H. But there is a third option to consider: the QN90F that I mentioned in the intro.
With the QN90F being a year old, its prices have dropped significantly. In fact, it’s cheaper than the QN80H. A 55-inch QN80H costs $1,299 / £1,299 / AU$1,795, while a 55-inch QN90F costs $1,299 / £999 in the US and UK (sadly it’s out of stock in Australia). And with Prime Day starting halfway through the World Cup (it runs June 23-26), there’s no better time to buy one.
The M80H is a tempting option at $699 / £799 / AU$1,199, but it’s a situation where it’s worth investing extra. If you have the option, the QN90F is the obvious choice, but if you don’t, the QN80H is by far the better option.
You can also consider the TCL and Hisense TVs I mentioned above, as 2025 models like the TCL QM7K/C7K are still available at cheap prices. If you want a Samsung mini-LED, go with the choices I listed above.
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