- Samsung unveils two new elite Dolby Atmos soundbars ahead of CES 2026
- The Samsung HW-Q990H replaces the current Samsung HW-Q990F
- The Samsung HW-QS90H is a 7.1.2-channel all-in-one soundbar
Samsung clearly couldn’t wait for CES 2026 to reveal its new soundbars coming out next year: it just announced two new models, but sorry if you’d like to see what they look like, the company didn’t bother to offer any pictures of them.
We do have other details though, and I’ll be on the ground at CES where I’m sure I’ll hear them in action and get to see them, so watch this space.
In the meantime, here’s what you need to know: Two new high-end soundbars are coming, called the Samsung HW-Q990H and the Samsung HW-QS90H.
The first is no surprise at all; it’s the successor to the five-star Samsung HW-Q990F, which we rate as the best soundbar for Dolby Atmos immersive power overall.
The new model sounds a lot like the previous one, which isn’t much of a surprise since these models don’t tend to change much from year to year. It is a soundbar system consisting of four units: the main soundbar, the two wireless rear speakers and the wireless subwoofer.
The overall system is an 11.1.4-channel Dolby Atmos setup, with the front soundbar delivering seven channels across as well as two uplifting height channels. The rear speakers each have two angled surround speakers plus a boom speaker.
The subwoofer will again be a compact unit, like the current one, with two eight-inch drivers.
Samsung has revealed little in the way of specifications, but has said that this model debuts two new audio processing technologies: Sound Elevation and Auto Volume. The first “raises the dialogue towards the center of the screen for more natural sound”, says Samsung, which is something soundbars generally try to do anyway (and LG even includes a fifth uplifting channel in soundbars such as the LG S95AR to help with this), but I absolutely love that Samsung is doing it better than ever.
But move on really like the sound of is Auto Volume, which “maintains consistent volume across channels and content for a smoother, more balanced listening experience,” according to Samsung. No more super loud ads suddenly or weirdly quiet old streaming movies? A consistent level without me driving the volume buttons? Love it.
No price or release date has been given, but Samsung usually releases these in the spring, and the previous model launched at $1,999 / £1,699 / AU$2,099 – although the price started to drop quickly.
The second soundbar is also a flagship, but of a different kind. The Samsung HW-QS90F is specifically an all-in-one soundbar, meaning it’s designed not to be used with rear speakers or a subwoofer (although knowing Samsung, it will likely be possible to add these – it hasn’t advertised this as an option at the moment though).
It’s a 7.12-channel Dolby Atmos soundbar with 13 drivers in total, including four bass drivers (which Samsung calls a Quad Bass Woofer system) to create convincing low-end without a dedicated subwoofer.
An interesting touch is that it can be used in two configurations: lying flat on a surface like most soundbars, or rotating upright for wall mounting. This is not new for Samsung – the concept was used on the Samsung HW-QS700F in 2025 and we found it very effective in our tests.
This is basically a direct competitor to the Sonos Arc Ultra as an all-in-one soundbar option with deep built-in bass, although the speaker configuration is in some ways closer to the original Sonos Arc, which also used four bass drivers to create its low-end, while the Arc Ultra uses Sonos’ new Sound Motion driver to create big bass in a smaller space in the speaker position, providing more sound in the speaker space.
It will be interesting to see how the two compare – especially as Samsung is likely to avoid some of the issues I had with the Arc Ultra when I reviewed it, including its lack of HDMI pass-through and DTS support… though once again Samsung hasn’t announced this for the new soundbar yetbecause the information is still light.
It’s unclear whether this model will support the Sound Elevation or Auto Volume features – Samsung only mentioned them for the Q990H model, but they seem to be just as useful here.
The best soundbars for all budgets
TechRadar will extensively cover this year’s CESand will bring you all the big announcements as they happen. Head over to ours CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable screens to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets and the latest in artificial intelligence.
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