Sonos’s video streaming device, planned for release in the second half of 2025, has reportedly been canceled. This decision may help Sonos maintain focus on its audio products, which have been deeply criticized in recent years due to software mismanagement.
The video streaming device, codenamed “Pinewood,” was never officially announced by Sonos. However, its development was regularly reported on by The Verge’s Cris Welch and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Both journalists are in contact with Sonos employees and began receiving Pinewood images, specs, and other details as early as 2023.
Leaks indicate that Pinewood would cost at least $150, possibly $200, or maybe even $400—it’s a Sonos product, after all. A unique and “beautiful” operating system, called Ventura, was indirectly confirmed to be the heart of the set-top box. That said, Pinewood was most notable for its home theater functionality—it offered several passthrough HDMI inputs, and it could wirelessly connect with other Sonos speakers to form a wireless, configurable sound system. (You can do the same with a Sonos soundbar, but Pinewood offered new speaker configurations and made it possible to assign individual speakers for select audio channels.)
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Pinewood was canceled during an all-hands call with Sonos leadership on March 12th, according to The Verge. Interim CEO Tom Conrad told employees that video is a non-started for Sonos, at least “for now.” Before the cancelation, some employees expressed concern that Pinewood could be a “repeat” of the Ace headphones, which were generally well-received by critics but maligned by much of Sonos’ core customer base due to their lack of Wi-Fi streaming functionality.
To be clear, Pinewood supported Wi-Fi streaming. This is an issue of customer sentiment and sales. The Pinewood project, as well as the Ace headphones, were greenlit by former Sonos CEO Patric Spence. As you may know, Spence exited the company after its disastrous app relaunch. Interim CEO Tom Conrad is trying to restore app functionality and regain customer trust, but progress has been slow, and the prospect of entering the video streaming market (plus the overhead of a new product category) has drawn ridicule from longtime Sonos customers.
As a high-end or “overpriced” audio company, Sonos is extremely reliant on brand loyalty. It needs to retain its customers’ trust. Otherwise, nobody will buy into its ecosystem of $1,000 speakers, $450 headphones, or $150-$400 video streaming hardware. Killing off or delaying Pinewood is good optics, and it frees Sonos from the challenge of juggling two product categories. Most customers appear to be celebrating the decision, though some were open to the idea of a Sonos video player.
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Anyways, a Pinewood-like streaming device isn’t totally off the table. If Sonos regains customer trust, it could take another crack at video streaming. Also, the Ventura operating system that powers Pinewood isn’t developed by Sonos. It’s from a digital advertising company called The Trade Desk. Unless Sonos has some kind of exclusivity deal with The Trade Desk, I assume that Ventura will be shopped around to other hardware manufacturers.
There also appears to be some genuine interest in Pinewood’s surround sound configuration functionality, which would give Sonos customers more control over their a la carte wireless home theater audio systems. If Sonos can add this functionality to its soundbars, then it should do so as a gesture of goodwill (after fixing its app, of course). After all, wired audio systems already offer this kind of configuration at a far lower price.
Source: The Verge
