Apple Inc has always created a buzz on social media with its products and prices. This time the US tech giant has taken the internet by storm, but not for a gadget. Any gadget user would assume that global supply shortages of phones and laptops would have the greatest impact on Apple, but this is not the case. According to The New York Times, Apple’s most back-ordered new product is the $19 Polishing Cloth. Yes, it is not a phone, a laptop, or air pods but it is a polishing cloth.
Those who want to purchase the cloth on Apple’s website will have to wait for quite a while. The current wait time is 10 to 12 weeks, meaning the product will arrive sometime early next year. The 6.3-by-6.3-inch square fabric is made of a “soft, nonabrasive substance”. It was initially created for the nano-texture glass of the next-generation Mac Pros’ Pro Display XDR panels. According to Bloomberg, premium microfiber cloths available on Amazon.com are priced at $1.5 each, making Apple’s new polishing cloth the “highest margin physical product”.
The fabric is now available for all Apple devices
While $19 may appear to be an extravagant price to pay for a polishing cloth when comparable options are available for a fraction of the price, Apple’s legions of devoted fans are definitely sold, with some motivated by the product’s utility and others by its meme potential. “It’s just a point of sheer excess,” consulting firm director Albert Lee told the New York Times of his purchase. “I just spent $4,000 on a laptop. What’s another $19?”