Samsung's The Frame has been extremely popular since its release. there is There is no shortage of imitators At this point, other manufacturers are trying their hand at creating a TV that blends seamlessly with the home decor and can even look like wall art when idle. But no one has captured lightning in a bottle like Samsung.
And in 2025, Samsung wants to fend off imitators by introducing The Frame Pro. With the artwork side of things well handled, the company is now aiming to make The Frame Pro a good TV for everything else. The Frame has nailed the aesthetics and style since the beginning. People buy it for the liveliness more than anything else. But as a TV thing, it's always been, well… GoodThere wasn't much wow factor in terms of brightness or overall picture quality that came with the good design. That may change now.
There are two main upgrades that put the “Pro” in Frame Pro. First, Samsung is moving to Mini LED, which the company says will give The Frame Pro a boost in contrast, brightness, and black levels. The regular frame, which isn't going anywhere, has never offered any local dimming to speak of.
But there is one important caveat: This is not a mini LED in the regular sense. Typically, mini LED TVs have lots of small dimming zones on the back of the screen. This makes them more accurate at lighting only the parts of the display that need it, while preserving black levels and shadow detail elsewhere. Frame Pro doesn't do this.
Instead, Samsung is placing mini LEDs below the screen, while claiming that this approach still produces some level of local dimming. To me, it all still sounds like a TV on the side. But I'll give this “mini LED” technology a fair chance whenever I get one for review.
Samsung is also increasing the maximum refresh rate of The Frame Pro to 120Hz Up to 144Hz, so PC gamers can enjoy smoother visuals than ever before. But if you were hoping “Pro” might eventually mean Dolby Vision support, it still doesn't.
The frame has always been something of a compromise; Maybe you have someone important to you who refuses to allow a dull black rectangle in the living room. So you, being a nice and considerate person, finally agree to “settle” on The Frame. After first hearing about The Frame Pro, I expected it to have very few compromises.
But this asterisk around the mini LED makes me a little less excited. Like recent models, The Frame Pro's display has a matte finish To give your favorite art a more authentic look and hide the reality that you are seeing on the screen. But matte screens can sometimes take away the punch of a display, so actual mini LED backlighting could help a lot in that regard.
The other big improvement is that the Frame Pro no longer has any thin wires between it and Samsung's breakout box that houses all the HDMI inputs and other brains of the TV: that connection has become completely wireless. This will result in an even cleaner look with less cable clutter. And the Wireless One Connect box, which supports up to Wi-Fi 7, eliminates another clue that The Frame Pro is a television. Now, all you have to worry about is hiding the display's power cord. Samsung says the wireless connection between the box and the TV works at distances up to 10 meters, “even when there are obstacles in its path.”
Frame Pro also gets AI-powered features like Samsung's other 2025 TVs. There's been so much focus on AI this year that there's a dedicated button on the remote to activate Click to Search, which can show you “which actors are in a given scene, where that scene is taking place, Or even what clothes the characters are wearing,” according to Samsung's press release.
A new Samsung Food feature can recognize onscreen recipes and provide you with recipes to make them — or at least something in the same ballpark. Additionally, the company is dialing up its AI-enhanced picture and sound optimization, and also ramping up accessibility features like AI Live Translate, which can “instantly translate closed captions on live broadcasts into seven languages.” He is very neat.
The important question is one I can't answer yet: How much will this thing cost? How much more expensive will the Frame Pro be than the regular model? Samsung won't share pricing details until closer to spring. If the company gets cocky and goes too far, it could ruin a lot of the charm here. But if you already know that some version of The Frame is in your future, you'll probably be very happy that The Frame Pro now exists.
Photography by Chris Welch/The Verge