Apple quietly discontinues the Beats Pill Plus, its final battery-powered speaker

Apple seems to have quietly discontinued the Beats Pill Plus, with the transportable wi-fi speaker not showing on both Apple or Beats’ web sites, as spotted by 9to5Mac.

Originally launched in 2015, the Pill Plus was the primary speaker launched underneath the Beats model because the music firm was bought by Apple for $3 billion again in 2014. A extra refined model of the unique Beats Pill speaker, the Pill Plus was an Apple-ified model of the unique product, with sleeker monochromatic coloration choices and the addition of a Lightning port for charging.

Apple and Beats would proceed to go on to construct out Beats’ lineup of headphones over the intervening half-decade, with merchandise like current Beats Fit Pro or Powerbeats earbuds, each of which characteristic the identical H1 chips and software program integration because the Apple-branded AirPods lineup.

But the corporate didn’t present the identical like to the Pill line. There was no Pill Plus successor that added assist for Apple’s AirPlay customary or one with built-in Siri assist. In truth, Apple hasn’t launched one other transportable speaker (underneath both its Apple or its Beats manufacturers), regardless of its enlargement into good dwelling audio system with the since-discontinued HomePod and the smaller HomePod mini — the only standalone speaker that Apple at the moment sells.

In the meantime, loads of different transportable battery-powered audio system round have come out to fill the area of interest that Apple by no means actually explored with its Beats-branded choices. There’s the Sonos Roam, which presents each Bluetooth and works with Apple’s AirPlay 2 customary, together with modernized variations of the Ultimate Ears audio system that the Beats Pill Plus used to compete with.