As we previously reported, Apple has a new NZ$35 cleaning cloth for its oh-so-delicate screens.
In strong evidence that fools and money are easily parted, the magical cloth currently has a delivery backlog of ten to 12 weeks before it’ll arrive in your letterbox. You presumably just can’t rush the work of the skilled artisan tailors who handcraft the magical bits of cloth from thoroughbred unicorn fur.
Or could the cloth be — whisper it — just a bit of a rip off? The folks at iFixIt have endeavoured to find out by breaking away from their MacBook Pro teardown to examine the cleaning cloth close up.
Apparently, the material feels a bit like the inner lining of an iPad’s Smart Cover, which makes sense as it also has a thin layer of microfiber on the inside.
“Both have a distinct synthetic leather feel to them with a hint of fuzziness, similar to Alcantara,” the piece explains, if you want to close your eyes and imagine you’ve got the elusive fabric in your hands.
Though you get the impression they may not have taken the task as seriously as their previous teardowns.
“Upon closer inspection, it’s actually two cloths glued together,” the teardown continues. “If you feel a bit underwhelmed by your [US]$19 purchase, pull both layers apart and suddenly you have two cloths, each costing only [US]$9.50.”
Still, there’s a certain seriousness to the endeavour. Behold, an image of a standard microfiber cloth and the Apple cloth underneath a microscope:
Yes, that really is an Apple logo woven into it. The reason the company wasted their time imprinting that becomes obvious when you zoom out to see exactly where iFixIt made the cut.
Good luck getting the company to replace that. Even if they did take out AppleCare.
If you still, for some reason, fancy having this cloth in your life, you can still order it from the Apple Store, if you’re prepared to wait ten to 12 weeks.