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.
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.
