The Pill is back! Beats' 2012 capsule creation was long overdue an update, wasn't it? Yes, Apple's Beats-branded Bluetooth speaker has been through several iterations in the 12 years since its debut, but even the most recent of those was back in 2015 (and was discontinued by Apple in January 2022). This left a gaping hole in the Bluetooth speaker space. Cut to June 25, 2024, and, following a few careful and thoroughly on-brand celeb leaks, a 2024 Beats Pill finally dropped.
And it's cheaper than it was in 2012! But let's not get ahead of ourselves – pricing comes later. Is the new Beats Pill worthy of a spot in our best Bluetooth speakers buying guide ? In so many ways, yes. Right off the bat: the glow-up has worked – it looks great.
It's rounder and more tactile: there's a sense of pride in carrying it around. It feels as if it should have a Bang & Olufsen plate on its metal grille and be far more expensive than it is. It sounds really good for its size too.
This is thanks in no small part to the reworked acoustic architecture under the hood: there's a new single and totally reengineered racetrack woofer (the 2015 Beats Pill+ featured a dual woofer design), helped by stronger neodymium magnets. Apple says the 2024 Beats Pill can drive 28% more motor force to "displace 90% more air volume" and while I don't have a Pill+ to hand to test that claim, I can tell you that the Pill sounds much bigger and more spacious that it's hotdog-esque dimensions would lead you to imagine..