Tag Archives: bluetooth speaker

Pokémon Beats Pill Adds Charms Without Raising the Price

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2026 is the year when Trainers everywhere celebrate Pokémon’s 30th anniversary, so we expected a lot of new merchandise, themed events, and collaborations with other well-known brands. We’ve seen footwear and apparel rollouts with adidas and PUMA, LEGO sets, even a partnership with the European Space Agency, and food collaborations like Pokémon-themed Hershey’s Kisses. If you’re looking for audio equipment featuring your favorite monster, you’re in luck with this newly announced collaboration.

The Pokémon Beats Pill is a Bluetooth speaker announced by audio brand Beats in partnership with The Pokémon Company International. It features two familiar Pokémon characters, the ubiquitous Pikachu and the more mysterious Mimikyu. It brings the bright yellow and minimalist gray associated with these characters to a portable speaker with what Beats calls its signature sound. Both Beats collectors and Pokémon Trainers may want to have this special-edition collaboration to bring their music and other audio content to life.

Designers: Beats x Pokémon

The speaker’s design is a contrast between the electric yellow most identified with Pikachu and a grayscale interpretation of Mimikyu, with the latter hiding beneath a cloth that resembles the former. More than just attaching a logo to the Bluetooth speaker, this is a character-driven design. Both Pokémon appear on the grille, while the speaker itself remains compact and elongated like other Beats Pill devices.

According to Beats, this is also the first Pill release that comes with charms. Trainers who like collecting accessories get the iconic Poké Ball, Pikachu-inspired lightning bolts, and the equally recognizable Beats “b.” The color-matched gray carry lanyard is removable, so there’s a practical carrying accessory alongside the collectible details. It also comes with interactive packaging, which Beats says includes a movable piece, plus special-edition stickers. The exact packaging mechanism isn’t explained in detail on the collaboration page.

The familiar shape has a practical side, too. Its 20-degree upward tilt is designed to direct sound toward your ears when it sits on a table, while the soft-grip silicone backing is intended to make it easier to hold. At 8.6 inches long and 24 ounces, it’s portable enough for a bag, although not pocket-sized. Keeping the existing Pill shape also means the Pokémon treatment doesn’t turn it into a bulky character figurine that needs its own dedicated space.

Specs-wise, the speaker has a bespoke acoustic system that Beats says delivers room-filling sound and deep bass for your favorite tunes, podcasts, or audiobooks. It offers up to 24 hours of battery life and has an IP67 rating for dust and water resistance. That battery figure is a manufacturer claim, not a guarantee for every listening session. You can also charge a compatible phone from the speaker via USB-C, using some of its battery in the process.

You can listen over Bluetooth or plug in a compatible device via USB-C for high-resolution lossless audio. The wired connection matters here; lossless playback isn’t being promised over Bluetooth. You can even pair two Beats Pills together in Amplify Mode or Stereo Mode. The former synchronizes playback across both speakers, while the latter separates the left and right channels. You’ll need a second Pill for either option.

The speaker also supports both iOS and Android devices, so you don’t need an iPhone to use it. One-touch pairing and supported device-location features add to its everyday usefulness. It can also serve as a speakerphone, letting you take calls through the paired speaker rather than reaching for your phone every time. The Pokémon Beats Pill is scheduled to become available in the United States for $149.99 on October 15, 2026, at 8 a.m. PDT, through Apple and Target online and at select Target stores.

For Pokémon fans, the appeal is having a collectible that doesn’t have to stay on a shelf. The collaboration’s announced changes focus on appearance, accessories, and packaging, rather than a Pokémon-specific audio upgrade. If you already own a Pill, the reason to choose this one is mainly the character treatment. For someone looking for a portable speaker, though, Pikachu and Mimikyu give a familiar everyday device some personality.

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Your Old Barbie Dolls Actually Become Speakers and Power Banks

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When I was young, a lot of my stuff was pink. Not just any pink. It had to be Barbie pink. I eventually grew into other colors, but those bright, familiar shades never lost their hold on me. They still remind me of afternoons spent inventing elaborate stories for dolls who, in my imagination, had unusually busy social calendars. Even now, a flash of that pink on an ordinary object makes me stop and look.

Gomi seems to understand that kind of attachment. Its Barbie x gomi Childhood Memories Collection incorporates recycled Barbie dolls and accessories into everyday electronics. The lineup includes Bluetooth speakers, power banks, wireless chargers, and tracker tags. These aren’t just devices dressed up in colors borrowed from a toy aisle. Actual doll materials go into them, alongside other recovered plastics, so the connection to childhood runs deeper than a coat of paint.

Designer: Gomi

The Brighton, England-based studio makes the limited-edition products by hand. Reclaimed plastics form marbled surfaces with patterns that vary from piece to piece. Gomi describes each design as unique, which is part of the appeal if you like objects with a little individuality. The visual variety matters, too: it lets the source material feel transformed rather than hidden inside a new product. A childhood toy becomes something you can recognize in the tech you use now.

On the Bluetooth speaker, recycled doll material is paired with an aluminum back plate and buttons. The contrast gives its playful surface a more practical, finished look. Gomi also lists fast charging and a modular, repairable design for the speaker. Those details matter because color can catch your eye, but an electronic product still has to earn its place in your routine. Repairability suggests that Gomi intends the speaker to be kept and used, not treated as a short-lived novelty.

The power bank makes the collection’s practical side even clearer. It has a 10,000 mAh capacity, USB-A and USB-C ports, and fast charging, according to Gomi. The company says it uses repurposed e-bike batteries and has a modular design that allows repairs and battery replenishment. If your phone runs low while you’re away from an outlet, that’s a problem it can help solve. Its childhood references are a bonus, not a substitute for the job it needs to do.

Wireless chargers and tracker tags broaden the idea beyond audio and backup power. Together, the devices raise a simple design question: Why should accessories we carry or leave out on a desk all look interchangeable? A charger doesn’t have to disappear into its surroundings, and a speaker doesn’t have to resemble every other black box on a shelf. The collection invites people to choose useful tech partly because they enjoy looking at it.

The reuse angle deserves attention as well. Giving discarded dolls a role in new products offers another use for their plastic, while repairable construction may help owners keep their devices longer. That doesn’t mean the electronics are impact-free, and Barbie materials aren’t the only recovered plastics in the collection. The more precise story is also the more interesting one: Gomi has found a visible, functional use for old toy materials instead of relying on nostalgia alone.

Distinctive design does come with trade-offs. If you fall for a particular pattern, you may not be able to return later and find another just like it. Gomi says only one of each power bank design is available; its listings show a $95 price, though availability can change. Anyone shopping primarily for technical performance should still compare specifications. Here, the draw is the combination of everyday function, an individual finish, and a material story you can see.

For me, the appeal starts with that familiar pink but doesn’t end there. Childhood Memories takes a material associated with make-believe and gives it an adult errand: keeping a phone charged, playing music, or adding character to a daily accessory. It doesn’t ask anyone to outgrow their affection for Barbie, and it doesn’t pretend a fond memory is enough to make good tech. Instead, it gives those memories a useful new form, ready to sit on a desk or travel in a bag.

The post Your Old Barbie Dolls Actually Become Speakers and Power Banks first appeared on Yanko Design.

The Bluetooth Speaker Hidden Inside a Wood Sculpture

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Most Bluetooth speakers look the same. They are round, black, rubberized, and built to disappear into a shelf or a beach bag without asking anyone to notice them twice. That sameness is the actual problem nobody talks about. We have accepted that everyday tech gets to be boring looking, as long as it works, and we have quietly let go of the idea that an object we use daily should also mean something.

Larry Tchogninou’s new speaker, Gankéké, pushes back on that quietly accepted trade off. Instead of starting from a generic pod shape, he built the entire object around the form of the gankéké, a double bell used in ceremonial and communal music across Benin, where Tchogninou is from. The result is a speaker shaped like two flared cones meeting at a center point, wrapped in wood veneer, and mounted on a sandblasted aluminum frame with an oak dowel handle running through the top. It looks nothing like a gadget. It looks like an instrument that happens to play your Spotify queue.

Designer: Larry Tchogninou

Tchogninou is a Chicago based architect and designer who was mentored early on by Virgil Abloh, and that lineage shows up in how he treats materials as carriers of meaning rather than just finishes. He has said he started making Gankéké after realizing how many audio gadgets he had been gifted over the years without ever understanding how any of them actually worked. So he built his own, and instead of hiding the engineering, he built a housing that turns the mechanics into the whole point of looking at it.

Inside the two wooden horns sit lateral speakers, with a central subwoofer positioned between them in a magnet to magnet configuration for stability. The controls are refreshingly analog for something wireless. Volume and power sit on the right side, a dedicated bass dial sits on the left, and there is a micro USB charging port along with a line in jack for anyone who still wants a wired connection. Tchogninou says it holds about three hours of playback at medium volume, which is not going to outlast a flight to Los Angeles, but that was never really the pitch.

What actually sells the object is the craft. Every unit is made to order, built from plastic, wood veneer, dowels, and sandblasted aluminum, with a four week lead time before it ships. That kind of patience is rare in a category where most people expect same day delivery for a speaker they will forget about in a year. Gankéké costs $700, which sounds steep next to a mass produced speaker until you consider what you are actually paying for. You are not buying a component. You are buying a small sculpture with a working speaker built into its logic, made by one person who understood the shape before he understood the circuitry.

I like that this object does not try to hide where it came from to seem more universal. A lot of design aimed at a broad audience tends to sand down anything culturally specific until it reads as generically modern. Gankéké does the opposite. It keeps the bell shape legible, keeps the name intact, and lets the story sit right on the surface instead of tucking it into a press release nobody reads. That choice makes the object feel less like a lifestyle accessory and more like a small act of memory that happens to also connect to your phone.

Objects like this will never replace the fifty dollar speaker that lives in a gym bag, and that is fine, because that was never the competition. What Gankéké actually competes with is the idea that a speaker has to be forgettable to be useful. It does not. It can hold a shape passed down through generations, sit on a shelf as something worth looking at, and still play music when you need it to. That combination is harder to pull off than it sounds, and Tchogninou managed it without making the object feel like a costume.

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Andover Audio’s FreePlay Is the Boombox We Always Wanted

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There’s a version of audio history where the boombox never went away. It just got smaller, cheaper, and unfortunately, a lot worse. The portable speaker category that exists today is essentially the boombox’s spiritual successor, and for most of its life, it’s been optimized for volume over everything else. Loud, plasticky, and designed to look tough rather than good. John Cusack’s character in Say Anything held that iconic box over his head because it was the most powerful sound system you could carry. Today’s equivalent should be doing better. The FreePlay, Andover Audio’s first portable speaker, makes a convincing argument that it finally is.

Andover Audio is a Boston-based brand that built its name on compact hi-fi systems, all-in-one record players, and powered speaker bases. Their entry point has always been “Hi-Fi for Modern Living,” which is a way of saying serious sound without the serious footprint. The FreePlay takes that same philosophy and adds a handle.

Designer: Andover Audio

And it is a real handle. The FreePlay is not a pocket speaker. At 10 inches tall, 13 inches wide, 6.5 inches deep, and nine pounds, it occupies real space. Fold-down carry handle, utility tie-down bars on each side, IP67 dust and water resistance. It’s built to be moved, secured, taken somewhere, and left out in the rain without incident. A matching shoulder bag with a cinch-top closure ships with every unit. This is not the brand’s afterthought moment. The packaging alone signals that someone thought carefully about the full experience.

The design is where the FreePlay earns the most attention, and rightly so. Available in Ivory, Olive, and Slate, it reads less like a piece of outdoor gear and more like something from a well-considered interiors brand. The soft aesthetic and clean lines have more in common with Scandinavian furniture than the rugged-industrial styling that dominates this category. It looks appropriate on a bookshelf, on a kitchen counter, or on a patio table. That kind of design versatility is harder to achieve than it sounds, and most competitors don’t bother trying.

Inside, the FreePlay runs a true stereo architecture: dual 5.25-inch aluminum-cone woofers with neodymium magnets, twin 25mm dome tweeters, and a 160mm rear-mounted passive radiator. Frequency response runs from 55Hz to 20kHz. For a portable speaker, this is a serious driver setup, and the key word in all of it is stereo. Most portable speakers collapse a recording into a single mono channel to save space, which is why so much outdoor audio sounds flat, harsh, and fatiguing over time. The FreePlay keeps left and right channels separate, preserving the actual width and dimensionality of a stereo mix. Instrument separation, tonal depth, and bass weight are treated as requirements here, not extras.

There are two listening modes: Wide Range, which is the default hi-fi EQ, and a Loud Mode that adds 6dB of output for moments when the crowd and the wind are both working against you. It’s a practical concession, and having it as a toggle rather than a default keeps the sound quality intact until you actually need the boost.

On the connectivity side, the FreePlay runs Bluetooth 6.0 with LE Audio and supports LC3, AAC, and SBC codecs, which covers stable wireless performance even in crowded environments. There’s a 3.5mm aux input, a microphone input, and a broadcast mode that can link up to 99 FreePlay units simultaneously for synchronized playback. Battery life is rated at 24 hours. The charging setup is genuinely impressive. A 45W USB-C port handles bidirectional fast charging, meaning it powers the speaker and can charge external devices. A 5W Qi wireless charging pad sits on the top deck so your phone charges while the music plays. A 45W wall charger ships in the box, which is more than most brands at this price point bother to include.

Controls live entirely on the top panel. Volume, track selection, pairing, battery status, listening modes are all accessible without opening an app. It’s a quiet design decision that respects the user’s time and attention in a way the category has long overlooked. The boombox was always about taking music somewhere it wasn’t supposed to go. The FreePlay understands that, and it adds everything the original couldn’t.

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A Seoul Design Student Built an AI Speaker Around Namsan Tower

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Namsan Tower stands at the center of Seoul like a declaration. It doesn’t just sit on a hilltop watching over the city; it has always been a transmitter, physically sending signals outward to every corner of a metropolis that never slows down. For most people, it’s a tourist destination, a date-night landmark, the place you go to lock a padlock and feel poetic about love. But for Juhyun Lee, a design student at Hongik University, it was a brief. A very interesting brief.

AION is Lee’s concept for an AI assistant device, and the connection to Namsan Tower isn’t decorative or coincidental. The tower’s original function as a broadcast tower, a structure purpose-built for transmitting information across an entire city, is the actual design philosophy behind it. Lee took that idea and scaled it down: what if a single object on your kitchen counter, or your desk, or your bedside table, could do something similarly intentional? Not just respond to commands, but transmit meaning through light and sound in a way that actually fits how you live? That question is what makes AION more interesting than the average concept speaker.

Designer Name: Juhyun Lee

The device combines speaker and lighting functions, but the point isn’t really the hardware. The point is how it communicates. AION is designed to provide context-aware information, meaning it adapts to what you actually need in the moment rather than just playing music until you ask it something. In a design landscape crowded with smart speakers that are essentially cylinders with microphones, a concept that thinks about situational awareness and ambient communication feels genuinely worth the attention.

Light as a communication tool is an underused idea in home technology, and it puzzles me that more designers haven’t pushed harder here. We’re surrounded by screens that demand our eyes, and speakers that demand our ears. The quiet alternative, light that shifts and signals without interrupting you, is something AION seems to understand. There’s a reason we find a lamp calming and a notification alarming. The difference is mostly about how information reaches us, not what the information actually is.

The name AION is borrowed from Greek, where it carries meanings of “age” and “eternity,” a word associated with cyclical time and continuity rather than a single moment. That choice doesn’t feel arbitrary. A tower that has broadcast through decades of a city’s history, and a home device designed to integrate into the ongoing rhythm of daily life, share a certain kind of permanence in their logic. They aren’t built for a single interaction. They’re built to always be there, doing their job quietly in the background.

What’s refreshing about Lee’s approach is the restraint. Concept design can easily become an exercise in maximalism, stacking features and rendering a product that looks cinematic but has no real relationship to how humans actually use things. AION doesn’t appear to fall into that trap. The Namsan Tower reference isn’t about aesthetics alone; it’s a framework that disciplines the design. You start with a clear function, a clear reason for existing, and you build outward from there.

Hongik University has produced a lot of notable designers over the years, and Lee’s project earns its place in that tradition not because it’s technically revolutionary, but because it’s conceptually coherent. The thinking is visible. You can follow the logic from inspiration to outcome, and that kind of transparency in a design brief is rarer than it should be.

Whether AION ever moves past concept stage is probably the wrong thing to focus on. The more useful takeaway is what it suggests about the future of AI devices in general: that the most compelling ones won’t necessarily be the smartest or the loudest, but the ones that know when to speak in light instead of sound, when to blend into the room, and when to make themselves known. Seoul’s tower has been doing exactly that for decades. Someone just finally took notes.

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This transparent speaker celebrates the beauty of sound engineering

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There’s something about transparent gadgets and audio gear that evokes a sense of retro-futurism. Although we’ve seen a fair share of transparent speakers, this one hits different. Rather than using transparency as a simple aesthetic trick, the design turns the internal structure of the speaker into a visual highlight. The clear enclosure reveals the driver, supporting frame, and internal layout that are usually hidden inside conventional speakers.

This approach transforms the product from a typical audio device into something more expressive, where the engineering becomes part of the visual story. The result feels less like a traditional gadget and more like a piece of functional design that celebrates the mechanics of sound.

Designer: Jinkyo Han

The form itself is minimal and geometric, allowing the transparency to remain the focal point. At the center sits the circular driver, clearly visible through the casing and positioned as the focal point of the entire design. Instead of concealing this critical component behind fabric or grills, the speaker proudly displays it. This not only creates a strong visual identity but also highlights the hardware responsible for producing the audio experience.

The internal elements appear carefully arranged to maintain balance and symmetry. With the casing fully transparent, every structural element becomes visible, which places greater importance on thoughtful layout and clean engineering. The frame surrounding the driver provides both support and visual structure, giving the speaker a refined, almost architectural appearance. Observing these internal layers gives users a rare glimpse into how a speaker is physically constructed.

Another benefit of the transparent enclosure is the way it interacts with light. Reflections and shadows passing through the clear surfaces add depth and dimension, making the device visually engaging even when it’s not in use. In modern living spaces where technology often blends with décor, a speaker like this can easily function as both an audio device and a decorative object. Placed on a desk, shelf, or side table, it naturally draws attention without being overly flashy.

Despite its artistic appearance, the concept remains grounded in practicality. Designed as a Bluetooth speaker, it emphasizes wireless connectivity and everyday usability. The simplicity of the overall form suggests that controls and functionality are kept minimal, ensuring the product remains intuitive while preserving the clean aesthetic. To add a bit of flair, the designer imagines the speaker in two sophisticated color options: Dusty Blue and Ocre.

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A Ferrari-Inspired Speaker That Turns Motion Into Light and Sound

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Some objects simply exist in a space, while others carry a presence even before they are used. ROSSO belongs firmly in the latter. It does not read as a conventional speaker. It feels composed, deliberate, almost cinematic in the way it occupies a room. Inspired by the rear light signature of the Ferrari F8 Tributo, the design does not just borrow from automotive styling. It translates the emotional language of performance into a completely different context. What emerges is less of a consumer electronic and more of a captured moment of motion.

The most striking element is the dual circular illumination, which immediately draws attention not as decoration, but as identity. The rings echo Ferrari’s iconic taillights, yet here they take on a new role. They feel rhythmic, almost like a pulse, suggesting energy even in stillness. There is a quiet confidence in this decision. Instead of blending into interiors, ROSSO chooses to stand out, using light to create a focal point that feels engineered and intentional.

Designer: Royal Tyagi

The form itself resists stillness. Surfaces stretch and taper, edges feel pulled forward, and the overall silhouette carries a strong sense of direction. This is not accidental. It stems from an ideation process rooted in the geometry of the Ferrari F8, where circular light elements evolve into a broader architectural language. Over time, the design moves away from literal references and instead captures something more abstract. The feeling of speed, tension, and control. The result is a speaker that appears to be in a constant state of readiness, as if it could accelerate at any moment.

Materiality deepens this experience. The ROSSO CORSA finish, with its high gloss metallic lacquer, creates a depth that feels almost liquid, allowing light to glide across the surface and amplify its sculptural quality. It is bold, expressive, and unmistakably tied to Ferrari’s heritage. In contrast, NERO VELO offers a quieter interpretation. Its satin, soft touch matte coating absorbs light, shifting the focus from visual drama to tactile interaction and restraint. CARBON FORMA introduces a more technical layer through its carbon fiber-inspired textured grille, grounding the design in a language of precision and performance.

What makes ROSSO compelling is how these elements come together to shape not just how the object looks, but how it feels. The illuminated rings begin to act as a visual extension of sound, suggesting vibration and energy. The speaker becomes more than a device. It becomes a multi-sensory experience. There is an underlying idea that sound can have a visible presence, that it can be anticipated before it is heard.

In a market where many products aim to disappear into their surroundings, ROSSO takes a different stance. It embraces visibility, emotion, and expression. It does not attempt to be neutral. Instead, it invites attention and rewards it. By translating the essence of automotive performance into a domestic object, it challenges what a speaker can be. Not just a tool for listening, but a sculptural artifact that carries speed, power, and intent into everyday life.

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The Projector Concept That’s Almost Too Beautiful to Use

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Most concept designs exist to generate buzz, collect awards, and then quietly disappear. The BeoLens Horizon, a projector concept imagined by French industrial designer Baptiste Baumeister, feels different. It feels like a glimpse into a future that Bang & Olufsen should absolutely be building right now.

If you’re not familiar with B&O, the short version is this: the Danish audio brand has been setting the benchmark for luxury consumer electronics since 1925. Their products don’t just sound good; they’re designed to be desired as objects. The BeoSound Shape, the BeoVision Harmony, the Beosound Theatre, all of them treat your living room like a gallery wall. Baumeister clearly understands that DNA, and with BeoLens Horizon, he runs with it in a direction that feels genuinely exciting.

Designer: Baptiste Baumeister

The design comes in two distinct configurations. The first is a horizontal, low-profile unit that sits flat on a surface like a refined soundbar crossed with a Scandinavian jewelry box. The second is a taller, cylindrical form that reads more like a speaker column or a sculptural object you’d place on the floor. Both share the same material vocabulary: light ash wood, brushed gold-toned aluminum, and tightly woven acoustic fabric in warm grey. It’s the kind of material combination that makes you think of an architect’s weekend house rather than a tech showroom.

The horizontal unit is particularly interesting because of how it conceals the projector itself. A wooden slat panel sits on top, almost like a miniature version of those slatted screens you see in high-end Japanese interiors, and the lens assembly slides out from beneath it. The 4K projection capability is written right into the design, quietly labeled without fanfare. There are no aggressive vents, no branding that screams for attention, no black plastic anywhere. It’s restrained in a way that feels almost provocative in a market where most projectors try hard to look “cinematic” and end up looking aggressive instead.

The controls are worth noting too. Rather than a touchscreen or a button cluster, Baumeister places minimal icon-etched controls directly into the wood panel. A Bluetooth symbol, a pair of directional arrows, a power circle. They’re barely visible until you know to look for them, which feels very much in keeping with how B&O has always approached interaction design, treating it as something that should feel intuitive and slightly magical rather than mechanical.

Looking at the exploded view of the horizontal model, you can see just how much thought went into the layering of components. The speaker array sits sandwiched between the wood base and the metal-framed top, with the projector mechanism occupying the central cavity. It’s genuinely elegant engineering, even if this is still a concept. Baumeister also developed a series of small-scale physical prototypes exploring the form from different angles, which you can see in a lineup of matte black study models. That process matters. It tells you this isn’t just a pretty render; it’s a design that was worked through with real hands.

Here’s my honest opinion: the TV industry has been coasting on size for years. Bigger screens, thinner bezels, more pixels. But the BeoLens Horizon asks a more interesting question. What if the device itself was worth looking at even when it was off? What if the experience of owning the hardware was part of the experience of using it? These aren’t new ideas in the B&O world, but a projector built around this philosophy feels like a genuinely fresh proposition, especially as ultra-short-throw technology continues to improve.

Baumeister is a young designer out of Strate, a design school in Lyon, and BeoLens Horizon joins a portfolio that already shows a real feel for the intersection of material craft and technology. Whether Bang & Olufsen ever picks this up or not, the concept makes a compelling case that the future of home cinema doesn’t have to look like a gadget. It can look like something you actually want to live with.

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When Your Speaker Is Also a Puzzle, Music Hits Different

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Most speaker designs ask a pretty simple question: how do we make this thing louder and smaller? Merge asks a completely different one. How do we make music something you can actually take apart?

Created by a five-person design team, Junchuan Shi, Junhao Lv, Xiangzhao Meng, Ping He, and Genghao Ma, from a cross-institutional collaboration across Sichuan Vocational and Technical College, CityU Macau, TUT, and QZUIE, Merge is a conceptual speaker system that just picked up a 2025 European Product Design Award in the Consumer Electronics category. It’s the kind of student concept that makes you wonder why no major brand has thought of it first.

Designers: Junchuan Shi, Junhao Lv, Xiangzhao Meng, Ping He, Genghao Ma

The central idea is deceptively clever. Merge physically separates music into its component layers: the accompaniment on one module, the vocals on another, and the full combined sound handled by the complete assembly. You choose what you hear depending on how the pieces are arranged. Pull the vocal module away, and you’ve got an instant karaoke track. Keep just the vocal module, and you hear a singer stripped back from all the production. Snap everything together and you get the whole song. It sounds gimmicky when you describe it that way, but it really isn’t. It’s an intuitive way to interact with music that streaming apps, for all their data and algorithms, still haven’t cracked with the same sense of physical satisfaction.

The three modules connect via electromagnetic induction, which also handles charging between units. That detail matters more than it sounds. It means the product doesn’t rely on fiddly clips or pins; the connection is seamless and the experience stays clean. When you hold all three pieces assembled, they sit together like a solid little object. When you pull them apart, you’re not wrestling with latches. You’re just… separating music.

Visually, the design is confident without being loud. The modules are geometric and compact: a rectangular flat piece, a squared speaker body, and a triangular wedge that caps the top when assembled. The whole thing sits in your palm like a premium toy, which is very much the point. The team describes the tactile experience of rearranging the modules as analogous to playing with building blocks, and that framing is spot on. Listening becomes a physical act rather than a passive one. You’re not adjusting a slider on an app; you’re literally picking up a piece of the song and putting it somewhere else.

The color language is considered too. The renders show options in slate blue, orange-coral, silver metallic, and white-grey, each colorway with its own character but all sharing the same graphic vocabulary: pixel waveform icons and quiet typography showing floating lyrics directly on the module surface. It reads like something between a well-designed toy and a serious piece of consumer electronics, which is an interesting space for a speaker to occupy.

I’ll be upfront: Merge is still a concept. It won in the EPDA’s conceptual category, and it hasn’t crossed into production territory yet. That’s a long road, and the audio technology behind splitting tracks in real time at the hardware level would require serious engineering. The images are renders and physical prototypes, not retail-ready products. But the best conceptual design has always worked like that. It shows an industry where something should go, even when the technology and the business case haven’t fully caught up yet.

What makes Merge genuinely compelling is that it treats the listener as someone with curiosity rather than just convenience-seeking habits. The assumption baked into most audio product design is that people want everything done for them, simplified, smoothed over. Merge assumes the opposite: that people might actually enjoy engaging with the layers of a song, touching them, moving them around. Given how obsessed the current cultural moment is with stems, remixes, and stripped-back sessions, that assumption feels exactly right.

Whether it ever becomes a product you can buy, Merge is already doing the thing good design is supposed to do. It makes you look at something ordinary and ask why it was never done this way before.

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