A couple of Japanese companies just announced a giant leap in OLED (organic LED) screen tech, making the displays last 30 times longer and use a tenth of the power. Toshiba Matsushita and Idemitsu are showing off a high-performance 2.2-inch 240x320 screen for cell phones that uses some gee-whiz small molecule tech that might make the super-sharp, ultra-bright displays practical. How’s a 60,000 hour life sound?

Sure, there are OLED screens available now from Sony and others on the way, and they look better than any display we’ve seen. But those limitations of durability, and most of all, their high price, are holding the tech back thus far.

This new energy-sipping innovation might let cell phones go a whole lot longer between charges. Expect mass production of these hyper-efficient screens to start next year. Let’s hope this super-tech scales up to huge OLED screens soon thereafter.

Via CrunchGear