Apple launches $19 ‘polishing cloth’ for its computers

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Apple has released its latest product: a new cleaning cloth for its displays.

At $19 or the same in pounds, it is much more expensive than many competitors. On Amazon, for instance, one seller is offering 20 microfibre cleaning clothes for just £6.69.

But it claims to offer special features above and beyond any normal cleaning cloth – and Apple warns that using any other kind of cloth on its £5,499 displays could damage them.

As with any other Apple product, it can be bought directly from the Apple Store, where it has its own listing. Like other Apple products, it includes its own special features, as well as a “what’s in the box” section, which explains that there are no accessories that come with the polishing cloth.

“Made with soft, non-abrasive material, the Polishing Cloth cleans any Apple display, including nano-texture glass, safely and effectively,” the description reads.

“Nano-texture glass” is a screen design that is included on Apple’s more premium computer screens, such as the Pro Display XDR, where it costs almost £1,000 to add. The screen has tiny etchings right across it, which mean that it has a matte appearance without the lower contrast that often comes with such displays.

In Apple’s support articles on the Pro Display XDR, it warns that cleaning the screen with a non-Apple cloth can damage the screen. The Pro Display XDR, which costs £4,599, does come with its own official Apple cleaning cloth.

But the cloth can be used on any other kind of Apple display, too.

Apple launched the cloth straight after an event that saw the introduction of the AirPods 3 and two versions of the MacBook Pro, which include new and much faster versions of its own chips. The cloth was not mentioned during the actual live stream.

According to its “compatibility” list, it is not actually compatible with any of those new devices, but that is likely because they have yet to be released. Otherwise, the list includes just about every recent Apple product with a display, with no indication that there is any product it is not compatible with.