Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. This post contains affiliate links — if you buy through one, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Our product picks focus on items we can link to, so we may not cover every option on the market. See our About page for how we choose them.
LG vs Samsung: Whose Smart TV Apps Stream Better?
If you’ve ever stood in an electronics shop trying to decide between an LG and a Samsung telly, you’ve probably heard the sales assistant say something vague like “sure they’re both grand for streaming.” That’s true, up to a point. But the two brands take quite different approaches to their built-in smart platforms, and for Irish viewers specifically, there are a few quirks worth knowing before you hand over your card.
The two platforms, briefly
LG TVs run webOS, which has had a consistent look and feel for years now. Samsung uses its own Tizen platform. Both come preloaded with the main players Irish viewers actually use: RTÉ Player, Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, and usually Apple TV+ as a standalone app. The exact naming and menu layout does shift between TV generations, so if you’re reading this on an older set, don’t be surprised if a label or icon looks slightly different to what’s described here.
App availability
Broadly speaking, both platforms carry the major Irish and UK-facing apps you’d expect. RTÉ Player has been a reliable presence on both webOS and Tizen for several years. Where things get less predictable is with smaller or newer apps — availability can depend on your TV’s model year, so a five-year-old Samsung set might be missing an app that a brand-new LG has, and vice versa. If a specific app is essential to you, it’s worth checking the manufacturer’s own app store listing for your exact model before buying, rather than assuming every “smart TV” from a brand has identical software.
Speed and everyday reliability
In day-to-day use, the biggest differentiator isn’t really the brand — it’s the age and hardware spec of the TV itself. A mid-range LG or Samsung from the last two or three years will generally load apps and switch between them briskly. Budget models, or TVs that are five-plus years old, tend to slow down over time as apps get more demanding and the TV’s processor and storage stay the same.
This is one of the main reasons a lot of Irish households end up plugging in a separate streaming device rather than relying purely on the TV’s built-in smarts, even on a fairly new set. A Fire TV Stick 4K or a Roku Streaming Stick 4K gets its own dedicated updates independent of your TV manufacturer, so it tends to stay snappier for longer, and the app selection is refreshed more frequently than some built-in TV platforms manage.
Software updates: an underrated factor
Both LG and Samsung push firmware and app updates to their TVs, but neither brand commits to supporting every model forever. Once a TV ages out of active software support, apps can become slower to update, or in rare cases stop receiving updates altogether. This is worth bearing in mind if you’re buying a TV expecting it to serve you well for eight or ten years — the smart platform may age faster than the screen itself.
Remote controls and everyday usability
LG’s Magic Remote with its pointer-and-scroll interaction divides opinion — some viewers love it, others find it fiddly compared to a standard directional pad. Samsung’s remotes have trended towards minimalist designs in recent years, which look sleek but can mean fewer physical buttons for quick app access. If you’ve a remote that’s easy to misplace down the back of the couch (we’ve all been there), a glow-in-the-dark remote cover is a small, genuinely useful fix regardless of which brand you own.
Streaming errors and account settings
Occasionally a streaming app on either platform will throw up a message saying content isn’t available. Before assuming anything is wrong with the TV, it’s worth checking a few ordinary things first: that your account’s country setting matches where you actually live and pay your subscription, that you’re logged into the correct account, and that the app itself is up to date. If none of that resolves it, the streaming service’s own support team is the right place to go — they can confirm what’s actually happening on their end rather than guessing.
So which one streams better?
Honestly, for the core Irish streaming apps, both LG and Samsung perform similarly well on recent, mid-to-high-spec models. The real differences show up at the budget end, or as TVs age. If app speed and long-term freshness matter more to you than brand loyalty, pairing either TV with a separate streaming stick or box, like a Chromecast with Google TV, is often the more future-proof choice.
Recommended for This Guide
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K
Wide app support and easy setup — the most common starting point for Irish streaming households.
Chromecast with Google TV
Google stopped making it in 2024 (the Google TV Streamer replaced it), but it still runs all the main Irish streaming apps if you find one in stock.
Roku Streaming Stick 4K
One of the most straightforward remotes and menus of any streaming device — good pick for less tech-confident households.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. We may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Learn more.
