Samsung Announces The Frame Pro: Could This Be the Perfect TV?

Samsung’s The Frame has been incredibly popular since its launch. There is no shortage of imitators at the moment. Other manufacturers are working to create TVs that blend in perfectly with your home decor and can look like wall art when idle. But no one has captured lightning in a bottle like Samsung.

And in 2025, Samsung will launch The Frame Pro to fend off imitators. With the artwork aspect handled well, the company is now aiming to make The Frame Pro the go-to TV for all other tasks. The Frame has nailed its aesthetic and style right from the start. People buy it for the atmosphere more than anything else. But for TV, it’s always been that way. hmm… decent. There wasn’t much to admire in terms of brightness or overall picture quality due to the clean design. Things may change now.

There are two major upgrades to The Frame Pro that add “pro” features. First, Samsung is switching to Mini LED, and the company says The Frame Pro will improve contrast, brightness, and black levels. Regular frames that don’t go anywhere have never offered local dimming.

However, there is an important caveat. These are not mini LEDs in the typical sense of the word. Mini LED TVs typically have numerous small dimming areas behind the screen. This allows us to be much more accurate in illuminating only the sections of the display that are needed while maintaining black levels and shadow detail elsewhere. Frame Pro does not.

Instead, Samsung is placing mini-LEDs at the bottom of the screen, and claims this approach still produces some degree of local dimming. To me, this all still sounds like edge-lit TV. But I’ll give this “mini LED” technology a fair chance whenever I get it reviewed.

Samsung has also increased the maximum refresh rate of The Frame Pro from 120Hz. With the boost to 144Hz, PC gamers can get smoother visuals than ever before. But if you thought “Pro” might mean Dolby Vision support after all, that’s still no.

The Frame has always been about compromise. Maybe you have a lover who can’t tolerate dull black rectangles in their living room. So, because you are a nice and thoughtful person, you ultimately agree to “settle” with The Frame. When I first heard about The Frame Pro, I was hopeful that there would be a lot less compromise.

But this asterisk around the mini LED makes me a little less excited. Like the latest model, The Frame Pro’s display has a matte finish, giving your favorite artwork a more realistic look and obscuring the reality of what you’re looking at on the screen. However, the matte screen can sometimes dampen the effectiveness of the display, so a genuine mini LED backlight could have helped considerably in that regard.

The second major improvement is that there is no longer a thin line between The Frame Pro and Samsung’s breakout box, which houses all the HDMI inputs and the other brains of the TV. The connection was completely wireless. This will result in less cable clutter and a cleaner look. And the Wireless One Connect Box, which supports up to Wi-Fi 7, eliminates another tell-tale sign that The Frame Pro is a TV. Now all you have to worry about hiding is the display’s power cord. Samsung says the wireless connection between the box and TV will work at a distance of up to 10 meters “even if there are obstacles in the path.”

The Frame Pro also features the same AI-based features as Samsung’s other 2025 TVs. This year the focus is on AI, so there’s a dedicated button on the remote to click to activate search. This allows you to see who the actors are in a particular scene, where the scene is taking place, and even what the characters are wearing. “Samsung Electronics said in a press release.

The new Samsung Food feature can recognize on-screen dishes and give you recipes to make them, or at least something in the same ballpark. Beyond that, the company is ramping up AI-enhanced picture and sound optimization, and AI is also reaching accessibility features like Live Translate, which can “instantly translate subtitles in live broadcasts in up to seven languages.” It’s very neat.

The important question is one I cannot yet answer. How much does this product cost? How much more expensive will The Frame Pro be compared to the regular model? Samsung won’t share pricing details until closer to spring when it launches. If a company gets cocky and gets too high, it could ruin a lot of the appeal here. However, if you already know that some version of The Frame will be released in the future, you will be very happy to know that The Frame Pro exists now.

Photo: Chris Welch / The Verge