Sonos may finally be ready to ship its long-rumored headphones, according to a new report, but not in time for holiday shopping. Meanwhile, the company is now rumored to be planning a non-audio product for next year as well.
Sonos headphones
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has the details on the much-discussed Sonos headphones:
A model is now slated to be unveiled as soon as March, with the headphones hitting store shelves the following month, the people familiar with the plan said. The over-ear-style headphones — code-named “Duke” — will face off against the $549 AirPods Max from Apple, as well as high-end offerings from Sony Group Corp. and Bose Corp. They’ll come in black and white color options, synchronize with Sonos equipment and offer voice control for navigating between songs. The company is considering charging between $400 and $500 for the product.
Over-ear headphones that compete with AirPods Max aren’t the only new audio products being considered at Sonos. According to Gurman, the company is also considering AirPods-like earbuds. He also reports that Sonos plans to launch “new amplifiers and in-ceiling speakers aimed at professional installers, as well as a higher-end TV sound bar, new subwoofers, an update to the portable Roam speaker and a version of its Era 100 speaker for businesses.”
Set-top box
Additionally, Gurman reports that Sonos plans to introduce a new video service and set-top box product. The new product will compete with streaming hardware like Apple TV 4K.
By the end of next year or early 2025, Sonos plans to enter a second new category: TV set-top boxes and video. The company is working on a device — code-named “Pinewood” — that can stream video on TVs and serve as a central hub for a customer’s other Sonos devices. The product will operate similarly to existing set-top boxes, offering its own operating system — based on Android — and a user interface that can display different apps.
Read the full report at Bloomberg where Gurman shares more details on the Sonos product roadmap.
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