Skip to main content

Apple’s $19 Polishing Cloth appears to have sold out

Well, here’s a surprise. You know that new polishing cloth Apple quietly added to its online store after its Unleashed event earlier this week? It’s sold out until mid-December.

Within just a few hours of it landing on the store, the $19 cloth already had a three-week shipping time. But just a few days later that’s slipped to between two and three months, with customers ordering now expected to receive the item between December 20 and January 17.

Apple's new Polishing Cloth.
Apple

So, either Apple has been overwhelmed by orders for the cloth, or it didn’t make many to begin with and they were quickly snapped up.

Either way, anyone ordering Apple’s cloth — or “Polishing Cloth” to give it its official name — will have to be patient. If your Mac display or Apple Watch or iPhone or even Android phone needs an urgent wipe while you wait for Apple’s cloth to show up, you may have to resort to one of these (more reasonably priced) options.

Apple’s online listing for the cloth doesn’t offer any details about the size of the product. We’ve reached out to the tech giant for what may be vital information for potential buyers and we will update this article when we hear back.

There have been suggestions that it’s the same cloth that ships with Apple’s Pro Display XDR. If that’s the case, then it’s a decent 7 inches by 7 inches, and, according to tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee, “really thick.” It has a small Apple logo in one corner, too.

On its online store, Apple also includes a list of compatible products for the cloth, though as it’s made with “soft, unabrasive material,” we’re pretty sure it’s safe to use on most displays on most products, whether or not they’re made by Apple.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, despite its simplicity, it seems that the Polishing Cloth is not the cheapest item currently available on Apple’s online store. That accolade is shared by two items — the Lightning to 3.55mm headphone jack adapter and the USB-C to 3.55mm headphone jack adapter — both of which cost $9.

Editors' Recommendations

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Apple’s M3 Max appears to keep up with Intel’s top desktop CPU
Apple revealing the M3 Max processor.

The first benchmarks of Apple's M3 Max processor just leaked, and it looks like it's going to be one speedy chip. Found in the new 16-inch MacBook Pro, the M3 Max pushes the capabilities of Apple silicon to new heights -- so much so that it can keep up with Intel's best desktop processor, all the while consuming far less power.

The exciting results come from a Geekbench 6 test. The chip listed under Apple M3 Max scored 2,943 in single-core and 21,084 in multi-core tests, respectively. Those are numbers that used to be pretty unreachable for a thin and light laptop just a couple of years ago, but they're comparable to Apple's M2 Ultra found in the latest Mac Pro (21,182 multi-core) and Mac Studio (21.316 multi-core).

Read more
Waiting for the Apple Watch Ultra 3? We have bad news
The Apple Watch Ultra 2 next to the original Apple Watch Ultra.

Apple Watch Ultra 2 (left) and the Apple Watch Ultra Joe Maring / Digital Trends

When Apple released the Apple Watch Ultra 2 in September, it was quickly evident that it was nearly identical to its predecessor. This suggested Apple had significant changes planned for the wearable device in 2024 with the Apple Watch Ultra 3. However, this assumption may be incorrect. There might not be a new version of the Apple Watch Ultra in 2024 after all.

Read more
Apple may have great news for Mac gamers at its ‘Scary Fast’ event
How to play Fortnite on Mac

Apple’s “Scary Fast” event is just around the corner, and we already know Macs will be the focus. But a claim has just been made that Apple will dedicate much of the October 30 show to Mac gaming, which could be good news for anyone who enjoys playing games on Apple’s computers.

That’s the assertion made by MacRumors, and the news outlet puts forward several pieces of evidence to back up its ideas. In the end, it makes a lot of sense -- but there’s still no definitive proof.

Read more