Beats Pill – the pill-shaped speaker is back and it charges your phone

By Ricardo de Jong ·

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Two red Beats Pill speakers on the shelves of a low black table in a living room

Every party has that one moment. The music is going, everyone’s having fun, and then the host’s phone dies because it was also the DJ. Silence. Someone suggests charades. Nobody wants charades.

The Beats Pill would have saved that party. It’s a pill-shaped Bluetooth speaker with up to 24 hours of battery, and when your phone runs low you plug it into the speaker with a USB-C cable and the Pill charges it.

It’s also simply one of the nicer-looking speakers you can buy for about a hundred bucks.

The Beats Pill speaker in matte black, champagne gold and statement red, lined up on a light background

What is the Beats Pill?

The original Beats Pill came out in 2012. Apple, which owns Beats, quietly discontinued it in January 2022. Then in June 2024 the Pill came back, rebuilt from the inside out. Same capsule shape, but Beats says it’s lighter and more powerful than before, with a soft silicone back and a removable lanyard.

According to Beats, it’s 8.6 inches long and weighs 24 ounces (680 grams). It comes in matte black, statement red and champagne gold, plus limited editions like a Kim Kardashian collab in gray.

How does it work?

Inside are two drivers. Beats calls the woofer a “racetrack” woofer because of its oval shape, and says it moves 90% more air than the old Pill’s woofer. A new tweeter handles the highs. The whole speaker is tilted up 20 degrees, so the sound points at your head instead of at your knees.

A few things from the spec sheet I like:

  • Up to 24 hours of battery, and 10 minutes of charging gives about 2 hours of music.
  • IP67 dust and water resistance, so the pool and the beach are fine.
  • USB-C for charging your phone and for lossless audio from a laptop.
  • Two Pills can play together: Amplify mode for twice the volume, or Stereo mode for left and right.
  • One-tap pairing and Find My on iPhone, and Find My Device on Android.
  • A microphone, so it works as a speakerphone for calls.

The good and the not-so-good

What I like:

  • It works equally well with iPhone and Android, which is rare for an Apple-owned brand.
  • The phone-charging trick. Small thing, saves parties.
  • TechRadar praised the bass weight for a speaker this size, and T3 called it a small speaker with a big attitude.

What could be better:

  • There’s no adjustable EQ, which TechRadar and Cybershack both pointed out.
  • What Hi-Fi? liked it overall but found it less dynamic than its favorite speakers at this price.
  • Some Amazon buyers say the power button takes some getting used to, because you have to hold it down long enough.

Who is the Beats Pill for?

Anyone who wants a good-looking speaker that goes from the kitchen to the backyard without fuss. It’s an easy gift for teenagers, students and that friend who always ends up as the party DJ. Buy two and you’ve got a stereo setup.

If you want more character and a real knob, the Marshall Emberton III looks like a tiny guitar amp. If you want a radio and a design statement, check out the Teenage Engineering OB-4. And for a speaker that looks like furniture, there’s the Bang & Olufsen Beosound Level.

Where can I buy the Beats Pill?

Amazon sells the Beats Pill in all three main colors. At the time of writing (October 2026) the statement red one was about 100 bucks, down from a list price of about 150. The black and gold versions were a bit more expensive that day.

A speaker that also charges your phone. Charades is cancelled.