The Beats Pill Is the Closest Thing to an Apple-Made Portable Speaker

Beats has revived and modernized its classic pill-shaped portable speaker. And it works better than ever with iPhones.

Published June 25, 2024

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Updated June 25, 2024

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It’s crazy to think that Beats — one of the biggest names in portable audio — hasn’t had a portable Bluetooth speaker since discontinuing the Pill Plus in early 2022. The good news for Beats fans is, with the introduction of the Beats Pill, that’s finally changing.

The new Beats Pill is a redesigned and modernized version of the Pill Plus. It’s a little smaller and lighter than its predecessor. It has improved sound and an “all-day” battery life. It supports USB-C charging and finally has an IP water-resistance rating — it’s IP67 rated, meaning it can even be submerged for a short time.

But maybe the most game-changing thing about the new Pill speaker is that, just like it has done with its latest headphones and wireless earbuds, Beats has integrated it with technologies to work better with your iPhone. (It works well with Androids, too.)

To date, Apple — which has owned Beats for over a decade — still doesn’t have (and has never made) one. This new Beats Pill is the closest thing to an Apple portable speaker you can buy.

Beats Pill (2024)

Specs

Battery Life	Up to 24 hours
Weight	1.5 pounds
Water-Resistance	IP67
Charging	USB-C

$100 at Beats

$150 (33% off)
$100 at Amazon

$150 (33% off)

Beats Pill speaker — The Pill speaker can connect to your iPhone just as fast as AirPods.

It feels very much like an Apple speaker

The Beats Pill has many of the same features and controls as a pair of entry-level AirPods. It supports fast iPhone pairing; when you turn on the speaker for the first time and hold your iPhone near it, a pop-up message will appear asking if you’d like to connect.

The speaker supports Apple’s Find My, so you can locate it if misplaced using the Find My app. And just like AirPods, you can control the speaker’s volume from your iPhone’s Control Center.

For Android owners, don’t feel left out. The new Pill speaker also supports one-touch pairing and support for Android’s Find My Device.

It has a new, bigger sound

Beats overhauled the guts of the Pill speaker to improve its sound. The racetrack woofer has been re-engineered to deliver deeper bass with less distortion, especially at higher volumes. The tweeter has been redesigned to deliver crisper highs and mid-range. And maybe most significantly, the new speaker is angled 20 degrees upwards to better direct toward your ears.

Interestingly, this little speaker also supports lossless audio over a wired USB-C connection. Yes, if you connect it to your laptop with the included USB-C to USB-C cable, it can play higher-resolution tracks. You shouldn’t expect this little speaker to blow you away with its sound quality, granted, but it’s a nice little feature that most other portable Bluetooth speakers in this price range lack.

If you decide to buy two Pill speakers, you can group them together so that they play the same music; this way, you will have more speakers in a party space. The neat thing is that there’s no app to do this; you just hold the center button on both speakers at the same time and they’ll sync. Furthermore, you can hold the center and plus buttons down to get the two speakers to play in stereo mode.

It has a really, really good battery life

The Beats Pill has a few other noteworthy features. It can work as a speakerphone, and thanks to Beats’ proprietary noise-learning algorithm, it promises to be very good at picking up your voice and blocking out ambient sounds. You can also initiate your smartphone’s smart assistant right from the speaker.

Unlike the previous Pill Plus speaker, the new Beat Pill has an IP rating—it’s IP67. This is on par with some other ultra-portable speakers, and it’s really good; it can definitely handle a trip to the pool or beach.

And then there’s the battery life. Beats promises an all-day “up to 24 hours” battery life, which is really good for a speaker this size. Granted, it’s likely not going to last that long if you play loud music. Also, if the speaker does run low, a 10-minute charge promises to give it an extra two hours of juice.

It’s probably more affordable than you’d think

The Beats Pill costs $150, which is actually not wildly expensive. In fact, it’s considerably more affordable than the Pills Plus, which was priced at $230 when it was originally released in 2016.

You’ll be able to buy the new Pill speaker in three different colors: matte black, statement red and champagne Gold. They’re available for preorder now. Shipping begins on Thursday, June 27.

Beats Pill (2024)

The Beats Pill is a revived version of the company’s classic Pill Plus portable Bluetooth speaker. It retains a similar pill shape, but the new speaker packs improved sound, battery life and ruggedness. It features quick iPhone pairing and support for Apple’s Find My network, as well. And it’s significantly more affordable than its predecessor.