The Beats Pill's triumphant return leaked by iOS 17.5

LeBron James with a Beats Pill
(Image credit: Lakers)

Apple's Beats products have quietly got a lot better in recent years. They're still pretty bass-heavy at times, but with an influx of AirPods features, models like the Beats Fit Pro are fantastic alternatives to Apple's own audio tech.

Now, it seems the Beats Pill speaker could be set for a revival, according to code from the iOS 17.5 release candidate, as spotted by 9to5Mac.

The Pill, last seen in 2022 with the Pill+, became popular for its portability and power, and thanks to the code leaks we have a pretty good idea of what to expect with the new version, too.

All we know about the Beats Pill

As per 9to5Mac's report, the new model of Beats Pill looks an awful lot like the Pill+ from yesteryear, with four buttons for volume up, volume down, power, and a central button for control.

You can use it as a Bluetooth speaker for calls, and it appears it'll let you instantly pair with your Apple devices a la AirPods. It's likely to charge via USB-C, too, with Beats actually shifting pretty quickly over to the new standard while Apple stuck with Lightning.

According to 9to5, the Beats Pill will also be available in three colors, red, starlight, and black. 

Here's hoping for AirPlay compatibility for users like me who want to play music louder than via my MacBook, but don't really want to fork out for a HomePod.

More from iMore

Lloyd Coombes
Contributor

Lloyd Coombes is a freelance writer with a specialism in Apple tech. From his first, hand-me-down iMac, he’s been working with Apple products for over a decade, and while he loves his iPhone and Mac, the iPad will always have his heart for reasons he still can’t quite fathom. Since moving from blogging to writing professionally, Lloyd’s work can be found at TechRadar, Macworld, TechAdvisor and plenty more. He’s also the Editor in Chief at GGRecon.com, and on the rare occasion he’s not writing you’ll find him spending time with his son, or working hard at the gym (while wearing an Apple Watch, naturally). You can find him on Twitter @lloydcoombes.