- Fender's Play platform comes to Samsung TVs around the world
- Arriving in the first half of 2026
- Prices to be confirmed
Fender doesn't just make fantastic guitars. It also features the Fender Play platform, a fantastic video-based learning system that can teach you guitar, bass or ukulele. It's been available on computers, smartphones, and tablets for some time now (it launched in 2017), but until now it's never been available as a TV app.
Fender has teamed up with Samsung in an “exclusive global partnership” to bring Fender Play to Samsung TVs in 2026. There's no release date yet, but Samsung says it will arrive in the first half of this year. And it should be available practically everywhere: Samsung says it will arrive in 49 countries in the Americas, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.
The app is not just an adaptation of the Fender Play app. Samsung says a built-in “jam mode” will offer Samsung-enhanced video and Dolby Atmos audio.
Sound is the main thing on your Samsung television
I'm a playing musician and I really value Fender Play – if you're a beginner with an acoustic, electric or bass guitar, or a ukulele, it does a very good job of teaching you the basics. Our music friends at Musicradar agree, giving the service four and a half stars out of five.
The big advantage of having Fender Play on your TV is that it gives you a much larger screen, so it will be much easier to see what's going on. And it's much more structured than trying to find lessons on YouTube, so it can help you progress more quickly.
I think that's important, because many aspiring players give up when they find learning frustrating. According to Fender's own figures, around 90% of guitar beginners give up within the first year.
That's one of the reasons Fender created Play; The more people continue to play guitar (and bass, and ukulele), the more likely they will be like me and buy a lot of Fender guitars. As Fender's CEO told Musicradar a few years ago, “We did the math. The 10 percent of salmon that make it through the dam have a lifetime value of $10,000.” [each]. They buy five to seven guitars, purchase several amplifiers, and manage the hardware side of the business. We felt that if we could reduce the churn rate by just 10% we could double the size of the [guitar] industry.”
Fender Play is a subscription service and currently costs $19.99/£19.49 (around AU$39) per month, although Fender often offers promotional deals and paying annually can save you a lot. We don't yet know if Samsung customers will be offered a discount when the platform comes to their TVs.
If you like making or listening to music, Fender is someone to keep an eye on in 2026 – the company is aggressively expanding into new sectors like Bluetooth speakers and headphones, and we're very impressed with what we've heard so far.
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