Apple sells a Diwali edition of AirPods 5 in India, and Beats teases a Pokémon PillApple sells a Diwali edition of AirPods 5 in India, and Beats teases a Pokémon Pill

Apple has started selling a Special Edition AirPods 5 in India for Diwali, on sale from 11 October to 11 November.

Apple India's store lists it as Special Edition AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case, at 17,900 rupees. That is exactly the price of the standard model with the same case, while the cheaper AirPods 5 with a USB-C case cost 14,900 rupees. The only difference Apple names is a festive engraving on the case. MacRumors describes it as a rangoli pattern arranged around a heart-eyes emoji.

Separately, Beats posted a short teaser on 12 October for a collaboration with Pokémon, built around the Beats Pill speaker. The clip shows the speaker next to the Beats logo and a Poké Ball, with the line "Time to catch something new". There is no product page, price or date yet.

Who can buy the Diwali AirPods 5, and what are the terms?

Apple's store page sets out the conditions:

• Sold at Apple's stores in India, the online store and by phone, while supplies last.
• A limit of two per customer.
• Not combinable with other AirPods offers, or with business, education or corporate employee pricing.
• If a unit needs replacing, Apple may supply a standard edition pair instead.
• No USB-C cable or power adapter in the box, and three months of Apple Music for new subscribers.

The earbuds are otherwise the wireless-case model, with Active Noise Cancellation, a force sensor with a volume swipe and an hour more listening than the USB-C version. Alongside the launch, Apple's Today at Apple page lists a free workshop with the artist Arushi Kathuria, in which people draw a rangoli in Procreate on iPad with Apple Pencil, using a custom powder brush. MacRumors puts the sessions between 14 October and 9 November.

What do we know about the Pokémon Beats Pill?

Very little that is official. MacRumors says a Pokémon content creator, BritBratTV, posted two photos earlier this month of what looked like a Pikachu-themed Beats Pill box at a Target store in the US. That sighting has not been confirmed by Beats. The standard Pill costs 149.99 dollars on Beats' US store, with up to 24 hours of battery, an IP67 rating and lossless audio over USB-C, and none of that is expected to change for a colourway.

The tie-up has a visible history. On 27 August, Tim Cook posted a video on X of Pikachu visiting Apple Park, where he introduced The Pokémon Company's team to John Ternus, then about to succeed him as chief executive, MacRumors reported at the time.

Our take

Both products are the same idea: take a model Apple already makes, change the outside, and give a reason to buy it now. The Diwali AirPods charge no premium, which matters in a market where, MacRumors notes, Apple has only six stores of its own. The engraving is the whole offer, and the two-pair limit and the replacement clause tell you Apple has made a fixed run rather than a new product line.

The clause is the detail a buyer should notice. If the case is lost or the earbuds fail, the special one may come back as an ordinary pair. Anyone buying it as a keepsake should treat the engraving as something that lasts only as long as the original case. For anyone choosing on features alone, it is simply the wireless-case AirPods 5, which buys an extra hour per charge and a speaker in the case, at the normal price.

The Beats teaser is a different case. Beats is the brand Apple uses to reach people who do not otherwise buy Apple, and a Pikachu speaker in Target is aimed squarely at them, and at collectors. APPDOOK's reading is that the price will matter more than the design: if Beats charges well above the standard Pill for a licensed finish, it becomes a collector's item; at the normal price, it is a Christmas present. Until Beats publishes a page, the box photos are the only evidence of what it looks like, and we would wait for the official details before paying a reseller.