On Tuesday Apple put a new version of the Polishing Cloth on the store at $9. The old one was $19. No press release, no keynote slide, no mention in the newsroom post. It simply appeared, half price, on the same afternoon Apple announced that the Mac mini now starts at $899 and the Mac Studio at $2,499.
Put those two facts side by side and you get the only genuinely funny thing about this launch. In a year where Apple has raised prices across most of the Mac lineup, the single product that got cheaper is a piece of cloth.
The short version
- Price: $9 in the US, down from $19. Same product description as the 2021 original
- What changed: close to the same size, but noticeably less stiff. The material is closer to the cloth Apple already includes with nano-texture displays and Vision Pro
- Compatibility: Apple lists more than 140 devices, going back as far as the iPhone 5
- The one real reason to buy it: you own something with nano-texture glass, where Apple’s cleaning rules are genuinely strict
- The one real reason not to: everything else you own is fine with a $1 microfiber cloth
The context that makes $9 look strange
The cloth landed alongside the new Mac mini and Mac Studio, and those went the other way. The Mac mini starts at $899, which is $300 more than the M4 model’s $599 launch price in October 2024. The Mac Studio starts at $2,499, up $500 from the M4 Max model’s March 2025 debut. Apple has been fairly open about why: memory and storage are expensive right now, because AI data center construction is consuming the world’s supply of both.
You can see it most clearly in the upgrade pricing rather than the base price. Going from 16GB to 32GB on the entry Mac mini costs $400. On the M5 Pro configuration, 24GB to 48GB is $600 and 64GB is $1,000. On the Mac Studio, 96GB is standard and 256GB is a $4,000 line item.
That memory squeeze is not an Apple story. It is running through the entire consumer hardware market, and it is the reason phone makers have started quietly cutting RAM out of spec sheets rather than raise sticker prices. Apple picked the other option.
What actually changed in the cloth
Almost nothing, on paper. The product description on Apple’s store is word for word the same as the 2021 version: made with soft, nonabrasive material, cleans any Apple display including nano-texture, safely and effectively.
In the hand there is a difference. Reports from people who have received the new one say it is close to the original in size but noticeably less stiff, and that the material feels closer to the cloth Apple already ships inside the box with nano-texture displays and with Vision Pro. That is a small change with a logical explanation. Apple has been making that softer cloth in volume for years now. Standardizing on it, and dropping the price by half, looks like a manufacturing decision rather than a generosity one.
The nano-texture argument, which is the only one that holds up
The obvious objection is the one somebody posted on Reddit within minutes of the listing going live: “Real question, do these polishing cloths actually work better than a microfiber rag? You can get like 30 on Amazon for pennies and they work great for TVs, phones, sunglasses.”
The answer that came back is the useful one. “These are compatible with the nano-texture screens. If you got a Pro Display from Apple there’s no reason to cheap out on the cleaning cloth.”
Nano-texture is not a coating. It is glass that has been etched at the nanometer scale so that the surface scatters incoming light instead of bouncing it back at you as a mirror image. That is why a nano-texture panel looks matte and readable next to a window while a glossy one shows you your own reflection. It is also why the surface behaves differently under a cloth. There is no smooth outer layer to wipe. You are cleaning a micro-structured surface, and anything abrasive or any liquid cleaner risks flattening or clogging the structure that makes it work.
How much nano-texture glass is actually out there
More than you might think, and it is no longer just a monitor thing. Here is what the option costs across the current lineup.
| Product | Starting price | Nano-texture option | Cloth in the box? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio Display XDR | $3,299 | $3,599 configured | Yes |
| Studio Display | $1,599 | About $300 extra | Yes |
| MacBook Pro | Varies by config | About $150 extra | Yes |
| iPad Pro | Varies by config | About $100 extra | Yes |
Note the last column. If you bought nano-texture glass, you already own one of these cloths. The $9 purchase is a replacement, a second one for a second room, or insurance against the day the original disappears into a drawer. Against a $3,599 display that is not a hard call. Against a $199 phone screen it is a $9 novelty, and there is no shame in admitting that is why you are buying it.
The 2021 version was a genuine phenomenon
Worth remembering how the original went. Apple listed it in October 2021 with no fanfare, at $19, and it sold out within about a day. Shipping estimates slipped by weeks and then by months. It became the running joke of the year, the shorthand for Apple charging real money for something you can buy in a multipack at a supermarket.
It also has one of the longest compatibility lists Apple has ever published for an accessory. More than 140 devices, stretching back to the iPhone 5. That list is mostly a legal formality, but it is very funny to read.
Should you buy one
A three line decision
- You own nano-texture glass and lost the original cloth: buy it. It is $9 against a display that cost four figures, and Apple’s cleaning rules give you very little room to improvise.
- You own a normal iPhone, iPad or MacBook: do not buy it. Any decent microfiber cloth, used dry, does the same job.
- You want it because it is the Apple cloth: that is a real reason and it now costs half of what it used to. Go ahead.
The bigger picture is that Apple is heading into its September event with a lineup that has been getting steadily more expensive all year, and the company chose this week to quietly halve the price of the one item nobody needs. It is a small piece of theater, and it works. Everyone spent Tuesday talking about a cloth instead of a $300 increase on the Mac mini.
If you are planning to buy anything larger than a cloth in the next few weeks, the timing matters more than usual. Apple’s September 9 event is now confirmed, and if you are trading anything in, our breakdown of how much value an iPhone loses the moment Apple names the next one is worth five minutes of your time. The cloth will still be $9 afterwards.
Sources and further reading
- MacRumors: Apple releases new Polishing Cloth
- 9to5Mac: Apple releases new Polishing Cloth for $9
- AppleInsider: Apple Polishing Cloth is back for $9
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