If you had your sights set on buying Apple’s so-called “polishing cloth” as a Christmas gift for the Apple fan who has everything, go back to the drawing board.
The much-mocked — and popular given early sales — piece of fabric is backordered until mid-January, according to Apple’s website. The $19 item is also not available in store. That means you’ll have to wait until 2022 to snag the fuzzy wipe.
Yes, folks were so hungry for the branded textile that its availability kept getting pushed back. Just a day after its October celebration of innovation, which arguably wasn’t that innovative, the polishing cloth was backordered to November. Now it’s been pushed back two more months.
Mind you, there are plenty of products out there that can be used to wipe away dust and greasy finger smudges from most iPhone, iPad, and MacBook screens that don’t cost $19. Alas, there’s only one with an Apple logo, and you can’t snag it even if you wanted to. Take comfort, however, if you were planning to purchase it for someone with older devices. The polishing cloth may not be compatible with their older Apple wares, anyhow.
As a joke that can be read as a larger commentary on excess, iFixit, which rightfully goes after Apple for making products that are difficult to repair, recently gave the two-ply cloth a zero out of 10 for repairability.
Can’t wait for the Polishing Cloth 2.
