Refreshed Beats Pill will reportedly gain Find My, 24-hour battery life, and better sound

Refreshed Beats Pill will reportedly gain Find My, 24-hour battery life, and better sound

2024-05-31 16:16:40

We’ve waited nearly a decade for this one.

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The overdue update also adds USB-C for charging and wired audio, plus water resistance.

By Quentyn Kennemer, a writer who helps The Verge's readers save money by surfacing the best tech deals and presenting the latest product recommendations from our experts. He has covered tech and gaming for all of his 15-plus-year career for publications like Forbes, Business Insider, and more.

Leaked render of 2024 Beats Pill in red
It dons a familiar look, but you can expect many meaningful upgrades for the 2024 Beats Pill.

Image: 9to5Mac

Leaked renders and celebrity sightings are clues for a likely summer launch of Apple’s upcoming Beats Pill speaker — its first since the Pill Plus, which we called “the best yet” when it launched in 2015 and was discontinued in 2022. A report from 9to5Mac, citing unnamed sources, gives more details about its modernization.

Reported upgrades include up to 24 hours of battery life, IP67 water resistance, faster and more reliable device pairing / switching with Bluetooth 5.3, and integrated Find My tracking on both Apple and Google’s networks. 9to5Mac also says Apple plans to update the Pill’s charge-out and input ports to USB-C, from USB-A out and Lightning in. There’s also a detachable carry strap (as displayed by LeBron James and Daniel Ricciardo).

According to the report, we can also generally expect a richer sound profile thanks to redesigned and repositioned drivers and tweeters. These all sound like fine reasons to upgrade, if true, but we’ll judge that once the real deal is out.