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How to read a Samsung TV model number

A code like QN65QN90CAFXZA looks random, but every character in it means something: the panel technology, where it was sold, the screen size, the tier, and roughly which year it came out. Once you know the pattern, any Samsung model number on a sticker, a receipt or a shop listing tells you most of what matters before you even turn the TV on.

Updated 16 September 2026

Look up your model number

Where to find the model number

The full code is in two places. On the TV itself, it is printed on the black-and-white label on the back of the set, on the right-hand side on some models, or along the bottom edge near the connections on thin panels. In the menu, Samsung's own path is Settings, then All Settings, then Support, then About This TV; the model code is on the first screen. Older sets show it under Menu, Support, Contact Samsung instead, and on many Samsung remotes holding the Play/Pause button for about five seconds pops up the same information.

The model number, piece by piece

Samsung builds its TV model numbers from the same set of positions, in this order. Not every TV uses every position, and older models vary, but this covers current and recent sets. Here is a full example based on the TV model QN65QN90CAFXZA.

Panel/TV type letter

The first letter names the display technology. This is Samsung's own list:

The last three only appear on sets that stopped being made years ago, so on anything current you will see Q or U. One thing the list does not cover: Samsung's current OLED TVs are not badged K, they carry an S in the series code instead (S95, S90, S85). So treat this letter as a strong hint and read the series code alongside it.

Region letter

The second letter is where the set is sold, not where it was made. Samsung documents three:

Three is the whole documented list, but it is not the whole story, because two markets turn the order around and put the country letter first:

• GQ and GU are the German-market codes, G for Germany followed by the panel type. They also cover Austria and Switzerland, which is why a German GQ65Q60A carries the ZG country code shared by all three. Samsung introduced them around 2020; the same sets were QE and UE before that.
• KQ is the Korean equivalent, K for Korea followed by the panel type.

So if a model number opens with G or K, read the first letter as the country and the second as the panel type, the other way round from the rule above. A GQ is a QLED for Germany, not a set whose panel type is G. The TV itself is the same as the QE version sold elsewhere in Europe; only the label differs.

Screen size

The two digits right after the region letter are the diagonal screen size in inches: 55, 65, 75 and so on. This part never varies by region or year.

Series and tier

After the size comes the series code, which Samsung's own documentation calls the specific model. This is where the TV is ranked within the lineup. As a rule, a higher number means more backlight zones, brighter peak brightness, a better processor or extra gaming features, not a different underlying panel. A QN90 sits above a Q60 in the same QLED family.

The series code also names the family, and that is the more useful half. These are the families in current and recent lineups:

Reading the tier is then simple: within a family, the two digits rank it. QN90 above QN85, Q80 above Q60, S95 above S90 above S85.

The exact tier numbers shift a little every year or two, so treat the ranking as relative within one lineup rather than as a fixed scale across generations.

Year letter

The single letter right after the series code is the model year, and this is where most people get it wrong. It is not a clean one-letter-per-year alphabet: Samsung skips letters, and in 2021 it went back to A and started over. That means the alphabet has run twice, so the same letter can mean two different years. The two runs are listed separately below, each in letter order so the gaps are visible.

Current run, 2021 onwards

Which run is my TV from?

Five letters appear in both runs: C, D, E, F and H. A C is either 2010 or 2023. You do not have to guess, because the rest of the code gives it away:

• The letter's position. In the first run the year letter sits in the middle of the code, right after the screen size, as in UE40C6000. In the current run it comes after the series number instead, as in QN65QN90C, or ends the number outright.
• The technology in the name. QLED, Neo QLED, Crystal UHD and the S-series OLEDs only exist in the current run. A 2010 set is a plain LED or plasma model.
• The length. First-run numbers are short and digit-heavy (UE40C6000). Current-run numbers carry a series block (QN90, CU8000, S95).

One more letter not to confuse with the year: some models carry a generation letter directly after the year letter, marking a mid-cycle refresh of the same model. Samsung's own documentation uses A for the first version and B for a later respin. In QN65QN90CAFXZA the C is the year and the A is the generation.

Tuner, design and country code

The trailing letters matter far less for day-to-day use. They follow a fixed anatomy of their own: first a tuner-type letter (F for the ATSC/QAM tuners of the US, Canada and South Korea, T or U for the DVB tuners of Europe, G for the ISDB-T tuners of South America, K for DVB-T2 markets across Asia and the Middle East), then a design-revision letter, then a two-letter country code. The country codes often cover a group of markets rather than one country:

Two TVs that are otherwise identical can differ only in these last letters because they were built for different countries; within one market, the picture and features are the same.

Why the country code matters when buying

For a TV bought new in its own market the suffix is trivia. It stops being trivia the moment a set crosses a border: a used TV, a grey import, or a marketplace listing that is cheaper than the local shops. Four things are genuinely tied to the market a set was built for:

• The tuner. This is the one hardware difference the code states outright. A ZA set carries an ATSC tuner for North American broadcast; plugged into a European aerial it receives nothing, and the other way round. If everything you watch comes from apps or a streaming box this may not matter to you, but it is a real limitation.
• Apps. The Smart Hub app catalogue follows the TV's service region, so a set built for another market can lack your local apps and catch-up services. Region workarounds exist, but they are not guaranteed to survive firmware updates.
• Warranty. Samsung's warranty is normally tied to the country of purchase, so an imported set may have no local manufacturer service at all. On an expensive panel that weighs heavily.
• Power. Sets built for 120 V markets such as the US are not automatically safe on 230 V grids. Check the power rating on the label before plugging in an import.

The panel itself is usually the same within a generation, but not guaranteed to be: regional variants can differ in details, and published reviews typically test the North American variant. Read the code before the reviews.

Short forms you see in shops

Almost nobody writes the full code. The set that carries QN65QN90CAFXZA on its label is sold as QN65QN90C, listed as 65QN90C, and reviewed as simply the QN90C. These are the same television: shops drop the trailing tuner, design and country letters because they are the same for every unit they sell. What survives is the part that identifies the TV, which is exactly the part this page decodes.

Where it pays to look at the full code is a used listing or a marketplace import, because there the dropped letters are the ones that tell you which market the set was built for. Within one generation, close variants of the same series also differ in the bundled stand, wall mount or remote rather than in picture quality, so check a full spec sheet rather than assuming a longer suffix means a better set.

Samsung's TV browser engine

Every Samsung Smart TV runs Samsung's own Tizen platform, and Tizen bundles a specific version of the so-called Chromium browser engine underneath it, which is also the base of the Google Chrome browser that you may be used to from desktop PCs or mobile phones. This is important, as the embedded Chromium version decides the web capabilities of your TV and the supported video codecs. It directly affects the apps running on your TV, especially the Samsung Internet TV browser. Sometimes updating your TV software may update the Chromium version too, unlocking new web features or fixing bugs and glitches that appear while browsing or using apps, for example TV Cast and the Screen Mirroring app. This is the version Samsung publishes for each TV model year:

A TV's actual firmware can lag its launch year, and Samsung's table maps the platform version to the year a TV line launched with it, not to every unit's exact update state, so treat a specific set's number as a strong estimate rather than a guarantee. Our own TV Capability Test reads what the browser reports directly from your set, which settles it either way.

Questions people ask

For LG's equivalent naming pattern, see LG TV model numbers explained. To identify the platform running on your set right now rather than decode a printed number, run What TV Do I Have, and to see exactly what your TV's browser can play, run the TV Capability Test.