Long awaited Sonos headphones touted to be $449 Apple rival
One of the longest running rumors in tech, that of the Sonos headphones, is set to come to a conclusion very soon.
That’s the word according to Mark Gurman, over on Bloomberg, who claims that the much anticipated cans will arrive in June.
The launch, according to Gurman’s report, was expected to be earlier but “hit a software snag, delaying production of the device.”
However, Patrick Spence – Sonos’ CEO – stated in a recent earnings call that:
“We now turn our undivided attention to the launch of our highly anticipated new product, which we will announce and ship in Q3.
“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.”
The purported Sonos headphones have been doing the rounds on the tech news circuit for a few years now and heated up in 2021 when the image below, from the German Patent and Trademark Office, landed, following a design we saw from the US equivalent body in 2020.
The headphones are reportedly going by the codename ‘Duke’ in-house at Sonos HQ, and the over-ear-style headphones will costs between $449, according to the latest report.
Presumably Sonos’ debut headphones will group and sync with other Sonos speakers and, as per the Bluetooth-portable Move or Roam Sonos speakers, be able to handoff their audio to nearby speakers too.
In a report back in December, Gurman also claims that Sonos is “exploring a follow-up product… an earbud model that would look similar to Apple’s AirPods.”
In his most recent report, he claims that in-ear model is codenamed Disco and could connect to Wi-Fi for streaming, not just Bluetooth.
2024 is set to be a bumper year for the Santa Barbara multi-room audio specialist, with not only new headphones touted, but revamped speakers across the range, a brand new app and even a set top box to take on the likes of Fire TV and Apple TV.
