vox populi : It ’s been a tumultuous preceding year for Sonos . Therollout of its new appcaused chaos and upset user . Its first pair of headphones did n’t meet sales fair game . To crest it all off , its CEO stepped down at thebeginning of 2025 .
Not a great year to be certain but surely lessons were pick up ? With tidings / speculation of the next Sonos machine murder the interwebs , perhaps not .
A leak discovered byThe Verge(who else ? ) about the rumoured Sonos TV box ( codenamed Pinewood ) , has suggest that it could cost somewhere in the area of $ 200 to $ 400 ( given Sonos ’ pricing , that could also have in mind as much as £ 400 / € 400 ) .
The corner is being huckster as a high-pitched - end choice to ‘ premium’Fire TVandApple TVboxes . With such a high price it could end up in an orbit that ’s completely out of knock with the competition . Obviously , that would not be undecomposed .
Rumoured ‘Pinewood’ TV box sounds too expensive
Yes , Sonos has seen itself as a ‘ bounty ’ steel in the same direction that the likes of Bose andApplesee themselves in their respective market .
But , to be honorable , while we care to think of Sonos as being ubiquitous with plate cinema , they ’re not the well - selling soundbar brand – Samsung has beensoundbar king for the last ten years , and will more than in all likelihood make that 11 age in a words . There is the perception , and then there is the literal realism . It can be painful when those two thing clash .
Like it did with theAce headphones , Sonos is stepping into uncharted territory . A potential $ 400 terms for a television box is , quite frankly , pathetic . That ’d be more than the Sonos Ace is selling currently for , and would just come under theSonos Sub MiniandSonos Beam Gen 2 . Who exactly is this machine for ?
Wouldyoupay $ 400 for astreaming boxwhen Apple has an alternative price at $ 169 and Amazon has one for around $ 140 ? Such a high price risks being an own goal for Sonos .
Innovate or die
This streaming box would have to do something that no other competitor is presently doing , and the mention of featuring severalHDMI inputsto tie other devices ( yourSonos soundbar for case ) , sound intriguing . The idea of Sonos taking more ownership in terms of how its devices wirelessly interface with your goggle box via the box would be utilitarian – sync way out , sign dropouts could be a thing of the past , and you may have the ability to wirelessly link up otherSonos devicesto the television . This all sounds great … if you ’re already a Sonos client that is .
That Sonos - centrical approach , along with the rumoured damage , could dampen the appeal of the ‘ Pinewood ’ boob tube streamer . From the outside looking in , it would seem as if Sonos has been in enlargement mode for the last few years , move away from dwelling movie theater to portable audio in theMove , Roam , and Ace to attract young client . The television set box needs to be along the same line in my view .
If it ’s to just be aimed at existing Sonos customers , I ’m not entirely trusted it ’ll be a compelling gadget . Sonos require convert and not just to invoke to those who still ( after the app debacle ) believe in them .
I do n’t desire to be negative all the time about Sonos , but the TV streamer seems like it should be a major product if Sonos approaches it correctly . Perhaps Sonos should take a leaf out of Sky ’s playbook and not go for a gamy starting damage ( even $ 200 seems a lot compared to a $ 50 Fire TV Stick ) bututilise subscription fee instead . pull mass with a subscription they can pay over one or two years and appeal to client that way .
In a still on-going cost - of - support crisis , a $ 200 to $ 400 streaming box sounds like a close - fatal nail in its coffin before the streamer has been born . Sonosreallyneeds this piece of work to rejuvenate some of the reputational damage the app caused . ‘ Pinewood ’ take to show that Sonos can still innovate and make the manufacture move to its impulse .
If not , an already shaky twelvemonth might get precarious , particularly with those long - standing rumour that another bad tech company might look to snap Sonos up , however unlikely that may seem . There ’s plenty riding on the Sonos ’ next few products and it demand to sail through the execution .
