Pokemon Beats Pill Review: Pikachu Speaker Steals the Show

Ever thought a Bluetooth speaker was pointless when your phone already does the job? That's exactly where I stood, until a week with the Pokemon Special Edition Beats Pill changed my mind completely.

The £149.99 speaker launched last week, swapping the usual plain look for a Pikachu and Mimikyu design across the grill, plus a tiny Pokeball on the strap. It's available in the UK from the Apple Store or retailers like Argos. Not fussed about the Pokemon art? The Statement Red version is going for £111.97 at Currys, saving you £37.03.

Sure, slapping Pokemon on tech grabs attention, but this speaker kept mine for a different reason. I brought it to a friend's house for a Halloween board game night, packing Chucky: The Game (2025) by Goliath Games and the Pill just in case. It ended up being the star of the evening.

We played Chucky-themed ambience, mixing audio clips from the Child's Play and Chucky franchise over thunder and rain sounds. Through my Samsung S26 phone speakers it sounded fine, but the Pill's neodymium-powered woofer brought out the real nuance. Booming without overpowering, and zero tininess. The quiet mumbling of Chucky's voice felt like it was playing all around us, and the louder we cranked it, the more detail we heard.

Better yet, no unwanted vibrations rattled the table and broke the mood, likely thanks to the speaker's 20-degree upward tilt. We could have used the TV or my phone, but losing that harsh, unpleasant audio helped us get properly absorbed. It's portable too, easy to shift when we needed more table space, and that alone has me set on bringing it to every board game night from now on.

I grew up trying loads of Bluetooth speakers and usually ignored Dr Dre's lineup because of the pricing. Now I get why people rave about the Pill. My only gripe? I wish there was a matching Pokemon bag to carry it in, since I don't want to scratch that adorable grill art.

This weekend I'm off camping in the Scottish wilderness, and the Pokemon Beats Pill is first on my packing list. No spooky Chucky games this time, but I'm looking forward to music with friends in proper quality. Maybe we'll even play some actual Pokemon audio through that Pikachu and Mimikyu grill.

Will you be picking one up, or sticking with your phone speaker? Let us know!