Sonos Delays its First Headphones to Mid-Year

Sonos was expected to release its first headphones as soon as March 2024 as part of a massive expansion of its product offerings, but a reliable report citing multiple sources now claims they’ve been delayed to mid-year.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says that the delay is tied to a software “snag” tied to how the headphones will connect to Wi-Fi networks. The bug triggered a pause in the device’s product validation testing process at Luxshare in China. And he says that under the new schedule, these over-the-ear premium headphones will now ship publicly in the first half of June.

Sonos has been working on its first headphones since 2019. And they should be in high demand, with the firm expecting to sell between 650,000 and one million units in the first year alone. They will likely retail for $449, in keeping with the premium Sonos market positioning.

Sonos CEO Patrick Spence teased the headphones during a Sonos earnings conference call earlier this month.

“We now turn our undivided attention to the launch of our highly anticipated new product, which we will announce and ship in Q3 [the quarter ending June 30],” he said. “This launch will give us a foothold into a new multibillion-dollar category, expanding the number of categories we play in from five to six and further diversifying our business.”

As previously reported, Sonos is also planning to expand into other products and services this year. But Gurman has expanded on that information by now detailing for the first time a “large speaker for use at parties [that will] compete with the PartyBox from JBL.”

Gurman also reported today that Apple has abandoned its smart EV efforts.