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An internet café (i-café) in Hangzhou, China, designated as a Samsung Display QD-OLED certified location. /Courtesy of Samsung Display

Samsung Display is partnering with six global brands — AOC, ASUS, HKC, MSI, TitanArmy and ViewSonic. The company plans to launch a promotional campaign designating local internet cafés (i-cafés) in China as "QD-OLED certified locations."

Samsung Display announced Thursday that it would select popular i-cafés in major Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, and expand the number of certified locations to 60 by the end of this year. The company had already established 10 certified locations by the end of last month.

Under the campaign, Samsung Display will select i-cafés equipped with at least 30 QD-OLED monitors and designate them as officially certified locations. The stores will be provided with promotional materials, including certification signs bearing the QD-OLED logo, X-banners, and keyboard and mouse pads.

Samsung Display emphasized that this marks the first time in the display industry that a company has established a collaborative model with i-cafés. A company official explained that Samsung Display aims to use spaces frequently visited by gamers to promote QD-OLED's superior gaming performance and further strengthen its presence in the Chinese market.

I-cafés are said to be major sales channels in China, accounting for approximately 30% to 40% of gaming OLED monitor sales. Their numbers have been growing, particularly as PC specifications become more advanced. According to China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the number of i-cafés increased 17%, from approximately 83,000 in 2024 to 97,000 in 2025.

China's gaming market also continues to grow. According to market research firm IDC, gaming monitor sales increased approximately 2.2-fold, from 4.93 million units in 2023 to 11.12 million in 2025. Sales of self-emissive gaming monitors, in particular, surged approximately 22-fold, from 25,000 units in 2023 to 560,000 in 2025.

"This will be an important opportunity to demonstrate to Chinese gamers that QD-OLED is a display technology optimized for high-performance gaming monitors," said Jung Yong-wook, head of the Strategic Marketing Team in Samsung Display's Large Display Business Division. "We will further strengthen QD-OLED's position in the premium gaming display market through various local marketing activities."

                                                                                                               Choi In-gyu