The Apple Store is down, though it looks like 9to5Mac has spoiled the surprise. According to the Apple blog, here are the leaked specifications for the new Apple products launching this week:

• Mac mini Base model: 2.3GHz CPU with 2GB of RAM, and 500GB of storage
• Mac mini: 2.5GHz CPU with 4GB of RAM, and, 500GB of storage
• Mac mini server: 2.0GHz CPU, 4GB of RAM, and two 500GB hard drives
• MacBook Air 11″: Base model: 1.6GHz CPU, 2GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage
• MacBook Air 11″: 1.6GHz CPU, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage
• MacBook Air 11″: Built to order model: 1.8GHz CPU, 4GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage
• MacBook Air 13″: Base model: 1.7GHz CPU, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage
• MacBook Air 13″: 1.7GHz CPU, 4GB of RAM, 256GB of storage
• MacBook Air 13″: Built to order: 1.8GHz CPU, 4GB of RAM, 256GB of storage

The Mac minis are reported to run new Intel Sand Bridge chips, while the MacBook Airs run Intel’s Core i5 and i7 processors. Launching alongside the new MacBook Airs and Mac minis are a new Apple display, though the only difference seems to be the name, rebranded as the Apple Thunderbolt Display, and the ability to have a VESA-compatible mount for them. We’ll see in only a couple hours, and these new models could go on sale as early as today.

[Via 9to5Mac]

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Oh, you haven’t heard? Having a display with 326 pixels per inch (ppi) was so last year. In 2011, 367ppi reigns supreme. At this week’s SID 2011 conference, Japanese company Toshiba showcased a 4-inch LCD display with a 720 x 1280 pixel resolution and an impressive pixel density of 367ppi. The screen, which will come to market sometime this year, has a contrast ratio of 1000:1 and is capable of displaying video in native 720p. Much has been made of screen pixel-density, thanks in part to Apple coining the term “Retina display” with its launch of the iPhone 4. Apple’s latest smartphone features 326 pixels per inch, making the new Toshiba offering — with 41 extra pixels for every inch — better (or at least denser). What handset will be knighted with the new, ultra-crisp screen? We’re not sure, but we can’t wait to find out.

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It’s been rumored that Apple has been spending billions in cash on a strategic displays investment, but other manufacturers and component suppliers aren’t standing still, either. Hitatchi Displays has just announced that they have a 4.5-inch IPS LCD display lined up for production in October. The new display’s resolution? 1280 x 720 which, in a 4.5-inch screen, equals a whopping 329dpi density. It’s LED backlit and features a 1,100:1 contrast ratio. Oh. boy.

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Along with updated iMacs and Mac Pros — not to mention a new Magic Trackpad — Apple announced that it will be updating its Cinema Display to a full 27-inches (the current model is 24-inches). The new screen is LED powered and boasts a built-in iSight camera, microphone, speakers, USB 2.0 hub, and MagSafe connector for Apple laptops. The screens resolution will be 2560 x 1440 and (obviously) in the 16:9 aspect ratio. The display meets Energy Star 5.0 specifications, will be priced at $999, and will be available in “September.” We’ve got the full press release after the bounce.

Apple Unveils New 27-inch LED Cinema Display

CUPERTINO, California-July 27, 2010-Apple® today unveiled a new 27-inch LED Cinema Display with stunning 2560 x 1440 resolution and 60 percent more screen real estate than the 24-inch LED Cinema Display. Featuring a built-in iSight® video camera, microphone and speakers, powered USB 2.0 hub, and universal MagSafe® connector, the new LED Cinema Display is an ideal companion for the MacBook® family or a Mac® desktop, and is available for $999.

“With built-in MagSafe charging, iSight camera, speakers, and USB ports, the LED Cinema Display is ideal for MacBook and MacBook Pro users,”said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With its massive 2560 x 1440 resolution, the new 27-inch LED Cinema Display is a perfect fit with our powerful new Mac Pro, and it gives iMac users an easy way to double their screen real estate.”

The new, larger 27-inch LED Cinema Display features a beautiful 16:9 edge-to-edge glass display on an aluminum stand with an adjustable hinge that makes tilting the display almost effortless. The LED Cinema Display has vivid colors and exceptionally high contrast and uses a premium display technology called in-plane switching (IPS) to provide a brilliant image across an ultra wide 178 degree viewing angle.

Designed as a companion for any Mac notebook or desktop, the 27-inch display includes a built-in iSight video camera for video conferencing, an integrated MagSafe charger to keep Mac notebooks charged, built-in Mini DisplayPort connectivity for video and audio input and a powered three-port USB 2.0 hub so customers can charge their iPhone® or iPod® even when they take their MacBook with them.

The new LED Cinema Display now includes a new ambient light sensor which automatically adjusts the display brightness based on external lighting conditions and uses only as much energy as necessary to provide an optimum viewing experience. Made with mercury-free LED technology, arsenic-free glass and highly recyclable materials, the LED Cinema Display meets stringent Energy Star 5.0 requirements and achieves EPEAT Gold status.* The new display contains no brominated flame retardants and all cables and components are PVC-free.

Pricing & Availability
The new LED Cinema Display will be available in September through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $999 (US). The LED Cinema Display requires a Mac with Mini DisplayPort.

*EPEAT is an independent organization that helps customers compare the environmental performance of notebooks and desktops. Products meeting all of the 23 required criteria and at least 75 percent of the optional criteria are recognized as EPEAT Gold products. The EPEAT program was conceived by the US EPA and is based on IEEE 1680 standard for Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer Products. For more information visit www.epeat.net.

What’s better just as good as an AMOLED display? How about a Super LCD! HTC has just released a press statement letting us know that they will “introduce Super LCD display (SLCD) technology into a variety of HTC phones including the HTC Desire and global Nexus One later this summer.” HTC boasts:

SLCD is the latest generation of LCD technology that offers improved performance from earlier LCD panels including approximately five times better power management. SLCDs also offer an enhanced viewing experience with wider viewing angles that are enabled by Sony’s new VSPEC III™ technology.

HTC acknowledged “high-demand” for its smartphones with 3.7-inch displays, and CEO Peter Chou said the new displays would enable HTC “to ramp up our production capabilities quickly to meet the high-demand.” Hit the jump to check out the full press release.

HTC Introduces SLCD Display Technology To Its Portfolio

New Displays to be integrated into HTC Desire and Nexus One

Taoyuan, TAIWAN – July 26, 2010 – HTC Corporation, a global designer of smartphones, today introduced Super LCD display (SLCD) technology into a variety of HTC phones including the HTC Desire and global Nexus One later this summer. The SLCD display offers an exceptional natural balanced colour, clear contrast, broad viewing angles and improved power efficiency.

“HTC is experiencing high-demand for many of our phones, specifically our phones with 3.7 inch displays. The new SLCD display technology enables us to ramp up our production capabilities quickly to meet the high-demand,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corporation. “The SLCD displays provide consumers with a comparable visual experience to HTC’s current 3.7 inch displays with some additional benefits including battery performance.”

SLCD is the latest generation of LCD technology that offers improved performance from earlier LCD panels including approximately five times better power management. SLCDs also offer an enhanced viewing experience with wider viewing angles that are enabled by Sony’s new VSPEC III™ technology.

What’s going to be harder to get than a Samsung Super AMOLED display? An unbreakable Samsung AMOLED display of course! OLED-Display.net is reporting that within the next two years Samsung is aiming to have ultra-rugged, unbreakable smartphone screens available to OEMs. The report does not detail whether the digitizer will be included on this unbreakable AMOLED display — the digitizer is what registers touch input and what makes a Super AMOLED display “super” — but if we had to guess, we’d say probably not. You don’t have to take anyones word on the staying power of these new panels. Hit the jump to see what happens when a mallet meets a prototype of this flexible, bendable, very-hard-to-breakable, AMOLED display (spoiler alert: it doesn’t break).

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Display-centric blog oled-display.net is reporting that Samsung’s mobile display division will double the lifespan of its much sought-after AMOLED displays (from 50 kilowatt hours to over 100 kilowatt hours) while decreasing power consumption (from 62 watts to under 30 watts) by the end of 2011. The blog reports that: “By increasing of substrate size from 4 to the new 5.5 gen line the number of same size panels produced from one substrate increase and it will bring more production efficiency also for larger OLED-Television devices.” Sounds like great news for mobile phone battery life and handset longevity, let’s just hope Samsung can crank these displays out fast enough for the manufacturers who need them.

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For those of you tracking every single detail of Apple’s “we-invented-the-remix” iPhone 4, we have some high resolution shots of the display all ready to go courtesy of Robert Scoble. It is actually pretty mind-blowing that the pixels are so amazingly tiny — we can’t wait to get one in our hands. How about you? There’s a larger shot after the jump.

[Via 9to5Mac]

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According to SuperPhone.cz, at least. They apparently have a next-gen iPhone screen and put it under a microscope to get some finer details on the new display. A 960×640 IPS display is what they found. This was discovered by counting the RGB elements on the screen and then determining that both vertical and horizontal directions were doubled compared to the iPhone 3GS. While the resolution is double 480×320, the actual pixel density is actually quadroupled — that’s four pixels in place of every one pixel currently. The new dpi would be somewhere around 320 which is basically unheard of as far as available mobile devices go. What’s the fastest way to pass 9 days again?

[Via MacRumors]

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Macworld.com.au is reporting that a refresh of Apple’s Macbook Air is scheduled for tomorrow. Having successfully tipped the last Macbook Pro refresh a week early, Macworld’s source has a proven track record when it comes to Apple laptop refreshes. The source claims the new Air will have the Apple part number MC516LL/A K87 BETTER BTR-USA, and is already visible in Apple’s inventory system. The source goes on to say Apple may also announce a new 27-inch LED cinema display to compliment the 24-inch model already available. We would like to see a MacBook Air packing, at minimum, a Core i3 and 4GB of RAM, oh…and a 27-inch display that actually works would be nice.

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As the day draws near for an expected but rumored Apple tablet announcement, more details regarding this mythical beast are surfacing. This time it’s news of Innolux, a subsidiary of Foxconn (whom we all know produces the iPhone for Apple), making the touch screen panels for the upcoming tablet — rumored to be the iSlate. According to Digitimes, another Foxconn subsidiary, G-Tech Optoelectronics, will be in charge of strengthening the glass for the device and Taiwan-based Wah Hong Industrial will be providing other components. And of course, we can expect Foxconn to get these tablets into production soon and into our eager hands!

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Lining up with the predictions of pretty much every Tom, Dick and Harry, Samsung has gone ahead and stated that it expects smartphones to make up 29 percent (or 500 million devices) of the mobile phone marketplace in 2012. As things currently stand, smartphones account for 14 percent (170 million devices) of all mobile phones, a figure which is steadily increasing (despite a World-wide recession) thanks in part to high consumer and corporate demand for feature-rich devices. What’s more however, is that Samsung is betting touchcreens will be featured on 50 percent of mobile phones by 2013. Sammy also says OLED displays will become all the rage with an estimated 50 percent market share in the next five years on all mobile devices, including but not limited to mobile phones, PMPs, GPS navigation units and digital cameras. Guess that means that while many will be looking forward to the future with outstretched arms and wide-open wallets, Stevie Wonder will be pretty PO’d unless some solid progress is made where the V.I. UX is concerned.

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According to The Commercial Times/DigiTimes, Apple has rounded up Taiwanese-based computer parts manufacturer Wintek to make displays for an upcoming touchscreen notebook. Rumors of a touchscreen Apple netbook are nothing new, but this one is quite specific in that it specifies that the displays will be passed along to Quanta who will be entrusted with the manufacturing of the netbook itself. Of course, details don’t mean a rumor has even the slightest bit of truth to it, but considering The Commercial Times/DigiTimes has a pretty decent track record (you know, when it’s not predicting Blu-ray Xbox 360s) and outed the first-gen iPhone, we’re willing to give this rumor the benefit of the doubt. As for when this alleged launch will happen, it is said that shipments should start in 2H of this year, meaning that there are still a few solid months left for everyone to speculate the hell out of this thing. But just think – Steve Jobs comes back to Apple in June, a new iPhone or two is expected, and a touchscreen netbook might be on its way. We’ll see…

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Until today’s event we had a pretty good idea of what was coming as far as the refreshed MacBook and MacBook Pro had to offer, but little was known about the mysterious Cinema Display that Apple was thought to have in store for us. The rumors indeed turned out to be true however, and it really is a pretty cool little display. Little? Not so much… Apple’s new Cinema Display packs a 24-inch LED backlit screen sporting a 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution. It features a cable with three connectors: a MagSafe connector that will power your notebook, a standard USB 2.0 port and a mini display connector. Other notables include a built-in iSight camera along with a mic and integrated stereo speakers. It’s really not a bad companion product at all, in fact you might just find a few at BGR headquarters come November. Apple’s sexy new 24″ Cinema Display will be available in November for $899.