Samsung and Prime Video launch HDR10+ ADVANCED for 2026 TV models

The launch marks a tactical escalation in the HDR standards war, positioning HDR10+ ADVANCED as a royalty-free alternative to the upcoming Dolby Vision 2. By integrating AI-driven tone mapping and automated motion smoothing at the metadata level, Samsung and Amazon are attempting to solve the "soap opera effect" while maximizing the 2,000+ nit peak brightness of modern panels. For the ecosystem, this reinforces Prime Video as the primary incubator for HDR10+ innovation, potentially forcing other hardware manufacturers to decide between multi-format support or standard-specific silos. Watch for whether other HDR10+ adopters like Panasonic or Vizio commit to the ADVANCED specification by CES 2027.

The rollout of HDR10+ ADVANCED occurs as the industry prepares for a broader shift toward next-generation high dynamic range formats. Per TechRadar (August 2026), the new standard is a direct competitor to Dolby Vision 2, which was announced in late 2025. While Peacock has previously signaled intent to be the first streaming service to support Dolby Vision 2, Samsung’s deployment on Prime Video has effectively reached the consumer market first. This technical rivalry focuses on leveraging the increased processing power of 2026 SoC (System on a Chip) architectures to handle more complex metadata streams.

This partnership continues a decade-long collaboration between Samsung and Amazon. Per Samsung’s own historical data (August 2026), Prime Video was the first service to adopt the original HDR10+ standard in December 2017, which at the time used dynamic metadata to challenge Dolby Vision’s early market dominance. Since then, the HDR10+ alliance has expanded significantly, recently adding Netflix to its list of supported platforms in March 2025 (per Strong-EU). The introduction of ADVANCED aims to utilize extended statistical metadata that goes beyond the frame-by-frame adjustments of the original standard.

Industry analysts at ZDNET (February 2026) noted that while HDR10 remains the baseline for all modern displays, the fragmentation between HDR10+ and Dolby Vision persists. Samsung continues to exclude Dolby Vision from its hardware lineup, betting instead on the open-source HDR10+ ecosystem. The addition of Intelligent Motion Smoothing specifically targets a long-standing consumer pain point by attempting to automate the toggle between high-frame-rate sports settings and 24p cinematic modes using the metadata embedded in the stream, rather than relying on manual TV settings.