Apple looks set to launch a new Bluetooth speaker very soon

A few weeks ago we got what looked like a pretty certain leak of a new Beats Pill speaker from an unlikely source - basketball legend LeBron James, who was toting it before a game. 

That might not literally be the first time a sporting megastar has leaked a new speaker, but we can't think of many other occasions. 

Now, though, a far more typical corroboration has arrived, in the form of a pretty comprehensive FCC listing filed by Apple for the speaker under a codename, as you'd expect.

As pointed out by 9to5Mac, these listings tend to only arrive shortly before Apple's official announcement - it's not one to let leaks spoil its party by too big a margin, after all.

Artwork attached to the listing confirms the shape and size that we could already see from LeBron's model, while the listing also confirms that it'll come in black, red and the gold version that LeBron was carrying. 

Finally, the speaker will have four physical buttons to let you control things, and we'd imagine these will at least include play/pause and volume controls. 

The charging port can be seen in the listing diagram, but it's not confirmed as being USB-C. In the year 2024 we'd be absolutely shocked if it wasn't, though, given Apple's commitment to the port now. 

So, this leaves only a few big questions up in the air, around details like battery life and weatherproofing, alongside the biggest one of all - when is Apple planning to actually announce the speaker?

It has a new Beats product launching in June, the Beats Solo Buds, so it could throw the speaker out with an announcement to have them hit store shelves at the same time. Or it might eschew that to give the Beats Pill more fanfare.

Either way, we'd expect an announcement in the next three weeks or so, based on historical turnarounds between FCC filings and Apple launches. So, if you want a new Bluetooth speaker and you like the Beats design that LeBron showed off, it's probably worth waiting a few weeks to find out its pricing and launch date.