Apple's new Pokemon edition Beats Pill has reignited my appreciation of wireless Bluetooth speakers

As I constantly have a wireless speaker in my pocket at all times in the shape of my smartphone, I've felt little desire to pick up a standalone one in 2026. Yet a week with the new Pokemon Special Edition Beats Pill has reminded me that portable audio sounds better when it's not tinny and draining the valuable battery of my Android-based phone.

The Pokemon Special Edition £149.99 (via Apple) speaker launched last week, swapping its plain coloring for a Pikachu and Mimikyu design across its grill, and even a small Pokeball sitting on the strap. Naturally, slapping Pokemon on tech gets my attention, but the speaker managed to grab and keep it by providing not just a cute design, but a sublime sound that has changed my friends' and I's gaming nights forever.

The speaker became the star of my weekend. I took it over to my friend's house as we queued up an evening of hanging out to get our minds off the scary world around us. As it's the Halloween season, I hastily grabbed and brought over some good scares in the form of Chucky: The Game (2025) by Goliath Games, and packed the speaker just in case.

I'm glad I thought to pack it, as it became the perfect addition to get us into the 'zone' for some spooky fun. I used the Beats Pill to play some Chucky-themed ambience in the background, which consisted of audio clips from the Child's Play/Chucky franchise played over thunder and rain sounds. It sounded fine coming through the speakers of my Samsung S26 phone, but the Pill's neodymium-powered woofer brought out the true nuance of the track. It sounded booming, but not overpowering, and there was no residual tininess to be found.

There were plenty of moments where we were contemplating cards to flip over, only to hear the quiet mumbling of Chucky's cheeky voice, which felt like it was playing all around us. The louder I made the speaker, the more nuance to the audio we could hear and the more scared we got. Better yet, there were absolutely zero unwanted vibrations coming from the speaker to the table to bring us out of the spooky mindset. Which is likely thanks to the speaker's handy 20‑degree upward tilt.

We could have easily played the same sounds through my friend's TV or my phone, but the lack of that tinny, unpleasant audio helped us get absorbed into the Chucky fun. Its portability also meant it was easy to move out of the way when we needed more table space, and that alone has me set on bringing it to every board game night going forward, spooky-themed or otherwise.

I grew up trying out a ton of Bluetooth speakers and typically ignored Dr Dre's audio lineup due to its pricing. Yet I'm glad I got to finally put the Pill to the test, as its fantastic sound makes all people's comments over the years feel justified. I only wish there was a matching Pokemon bag to carry it around with, as I don't want to use my phone's speaker for anything but phone calls ever again, but also don't want to risk damaging the grill's adorable Pokemon-themed art.

This weekend I'm going camping, and you can get bet the Pokemon Beats Pill will be first on my list of things to pack. We won't be playing any spooky Chucky games as I don't want to get too frightened while hanging out in the Scottish wilderness. Yet, I'm looking forward to being able to listen to music with my friends in a quality that manages to bring out the nuance in anything and everything.

Maybe this time we'll play some actual Pokemon audio through the Pikachu and Mimikyu-printed grill to make our weekend feel more fitting. No matter what we decide, you can bet I'll be choosing this Beats Pill as my speaker of choice.

• View all Beats Pill speakers at Apple

Love high-quality audio? Check out our guides to the best gaming headsets, which include some of the best Nintendo Switch headsets to pair with your favorite Pokemon games.