After essentially the most tumultuous 9 months in Sonos’ historical past, the model is looking for its footing once more. Even as work continues to rehabilitate the corporate’s beleaguered cellular app, Sonos is planning to take a giant swing in a brand new product class: it’s moving into video for the primary time. In the approaching months, Sonos will launch a streaming participant that sources inform me may value between $200 and $400 — a really staggering worth for its class.
I’ve seen photographs of the upcoming product, which is deep into improvement, and it’s about as nondescript as streaming {hardware} will get. Viewed from the highest, the system is a flattened black sq. and barely thicker than a deck of buying and selling playing cards.
But the streamer, codenamed Pinewood, is designed to be extra than simply one other competitor to the Apple TV 4K, Nvidia Shield, or Roku Ultra. Don’t get me unsuitable: streaming is a large focus for the product. Sources conversant in Pinewood inform me it has a “lovely” interface, regardless of the software program being developed in partnership with a digital adverts agency.
Sonos plans to mix content material from quite a few platforms together with Netflix, Max, and Disney Plus underneath a single, unified software program expertise. Universal search throughout streaming accounts will probably be supported. We’ve seen comparable efforts to masks the fragmented nature of recent leisure from Sonos’ soon-to-be rivals. But I’m informed it is a cornerstone of Pinewood’s attraction. Sonos Voice Control will probably be built-in, and Pinewood may even ship with a bodily distant management that features shortcuts for common streaming apps. I see this as a welcome various to utilizing your cellphone (or voice) to navigate across the software program, which may develop tiring.
It’s yet one more streaming participant that guarantees to unify all your leisure
The {hardware}’s potential extends nicely past these options. According to folks conversant in its improvement, Pinewood serves as an HDMI swap and has a number of HDMI ports with passthrough performance. You’ll be capable to plug exterior units like gaming consoles or 4K Blu-ray gamers into it. Sonos engineers have been annoyed through the years by unpredictable points between its soundbars and sure TVs. These can embrace audio sync delays, transient sign dropouts, and different bugs that may show difficult to breed, not to mention repair. With Pinewood, Sonos goals to take larger management of the I/O stack. The field will be capable to wirelessly transmit lag-free TV audio to the corporate’s soundbars and different Sonos merchandise.
Pinewood additionally unlocks a functionality that Sonos clients have been requesting for years: you’ll be capable to configure a real encompass sound system utilizing the corporate’s different audio system. Instead of relying so closely on a soundbar, you possibly can create devoted entrance left and proper channels with, say, two Era 300s. This will permit for a lot extra superior Dolby Atmos setups, however Sonos remains to be finalizing precisely which speaker preparations will probably be supported.
In different firsts for the corporate, Pinewood will embrace gigabit ethernet and Wi-Fi 7 for essentially the most strong connectivity potential. The Pinewood codename was first reported by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
I don’t have to preserve reminding you of how horrible 2024 was for Sonos — all because of poor selections made by its government management crew. But now the corporate has a brand new interim CEO, Tom Conrad, who will host his first earnings name as Sonos’ chief on Thursday. He’ll undoubtedly stress that bettering the corporate’s oft-criticized cellular app stays precedence primary. But I’ll be listening to listen to what Conrad has to say concerning the future.
Do you recognize extra about what went unsuitable at Sonos underneath Patrick Spence?
In my time at The Verge, I’ve lined Sonos extra comprehensively (and I’d wish to assume pretty) than every other firm. Yes, that features a lengthy checklist of product leaks, however I’m much more interested by shining a lightweight on all of the frustrations attributable to the brand new app — each for purchasers and employees — and the unhealthy selections that led Sonos off the tracks. Those decisions have had repercussions for odd workers who gave their finest to the model.
If you’ve gotten extra to share concerning the final 12 months at Sonos, please attain out to me confidentially and securely over Signal at (845) 445-8455 or chriswelch.01. I may also be reached through DM on Bluesky, X, or Instagram.
Through that lens, Pinewood will probably be Sonos’ most vital product introduction of fiscal 2025 and will find yourself being the corporate’s solely new {hardware} due anytime quickly. After the Sonos Ace headphones — a formidable first effort — have been swallowed up by the app controversy, that is one other try to interrupt into a brand new product class. Sales of the Ace stay disappointing, in response to sources, which has led Sonos to deprioritize deliberate options like TrueCinema, which was alleged to make the Ace’s encompass sound much more convincing by taking the acoustics of your room into consideration. Sonos has additionally put different in-the-works {hardware} on the backburner in order to not unfold itself too skinny.
Inside Sonos, some workers stay pessimistic about Pinewood’s possibilities of changing into something greater than a distinct segment system in a crowded, aggressive area. The Nvidia Shield TV Pro, among the many most costly streaming units, prices $200. The Sonos Ace headphones confronted equally daunting odds and have fallen nicely wanting the corporate’s targets. To be honest, these have been equally doomed by the app scenario.
I’m informed the streaming field is essentially the pet venture of chief innovation officer Nick Millington, who architected Sonos’ core networking framework a long time in the past. Pinewood’s early improvement started underneath Studio 110, a complicated group inside Sonos that was helmed by Millington for a time. More not too long ago, Millington has been overseeing enhancements to the cellular app and recurrently engages with Sonos’ Reddit group.
Pinewood was greenlit by former CEO Patrick Spence and stays in beta testing, so some options I’ve talked about might be modified or dropped from the field by the point it ships. If the rumored premium worth is correct — a number of sources reiterated that Pinewood received’t be low cost — Sonos has to nail the system’s introduction and make a powerful case for why it’s a must-own addition to the corporate’s ecosystem.
Positive opinions of the brand new Arc Ultra have been a much-needed morale increase on the firm and show that Sonos nonetheless is aware of the best way to make a masterful soundbar. But workers are cautious of extra job cuts within the close to future. Some have expressed doubt as as to if the latest shakeup in Sonos management will finally produce significant change.
