Apple Thinks You Need To Spend $19 On A Polishing Cloth - Here's Why People Actually Buy It

Apple's standard pricing for its products may not be for everyone, but it feels like everyone doesn't seem to mind if they are paying more for an Apple product than its rivals. The Cupertino giant tends to get a pass, despite releasing the most basic product for a premium price. Case in point is Apple's Polishing Cloth. The small microfiber towel that was once an inclusion in Apple's Pro Display XDR, iMacs, and other devices has become a standalone accessory, which the company started selling for $19 each in October of 2021.

Like other ordinary microfiber towels, the purpose of Apple's Polishing Cloth is to clean fingerprints and smudges from screens. Appearance-wise, the product does look more premium than most microfiber towels on the market. It even has Apple's embossed monogram to flaunt its premium status. 

Apple claims it's made of a soft, non-abrasive material that doesn't scratch delicate glass surfaces, including nano-texture glass. It also works across all Apple devices, from displays to smartphones. So, while there may be ordinary home items that can clean an iPhone, Apple seems keen for consumers to use its branded cloth to wipe dirt off its tech products.

By releasing the supposedly bundled towel as a standalone product, Apple appears to have strategically expanded its accessory ecosystem by offering even the simplest tools and positioning them as part of the full Apple experience. Surprisingly, or not, people actually give in to this rather gimmicky stunt, buying the unreasonably priced Polishing Cloth for various reasons.

When the Polishing Cloth was released, the demand was so high that it was already backordered until January the following year. Official sales figures were never released, but since the item is still available to order from Apple at time of writing, it's clear that demand for it remains. That said, there are so many more affordable options out there; a 12-pack of microfiber cleaning cloths costs $7.99 on Amazon. So, how come many are still buying Apple's Polishing Cloth?

There are a handful of reasons why the accessory is still selling, a major one being branding. When Apple first introduced it as a freebie with the 32-inch 6K Pro Display XDR in 2019, it was branded as a special cleaning cloth designed for the delicate nano-texture glass. However, the only products to feature the glass were the XDR and the 27-inch iMac. When the Polishing Cloth officially launched, Apple updated its compatibility list to include almost all iPhone, iPad, MacBook, and Apple Watch models — even those released way before the Polishing Cloth.

The other reasons are charm pricing and signaling. The former refers to the marketing strategy of ending prices in "9" to make customers think they are getting a good value, while the latter gives customers the impression that a product is premium because it costs more than its competitors. But in reality, Apple's Polishing Cloth is not that special. Besides, as long as you don't use corrosive cleaning products to clean your iPhone, you're mostly good.