Final week, sensible speaker maker Sonos reported that it earned a internet lack of $9 million on revenues of $305.1 million within the quarter ending September 30, 2023. Worse, all of fiscal 2023 was a step backward for the agency, which earned a internet earnings of $121.4 million on revenues of $1.655 billion over the earlier 4 quarters. These figures signify drops of 29 p.c and 5.5 p.c year-over-year (YOY).
Sonos reached some significant milestones through the yr—a report 3.05 merchandise per Sonos family and its highest market share within the U.S. since 2019 amongst them—and it launched some thrilling upgrades just like the Period 100 and Period 300, Transfer 2, and Sub Mini sensible audio system. However the agency admitted that it was experiencing “a down a part of the enterprise cycle on the subject of house audio,” and that fiscal 2024 will proceed to see “weak shopper demand” on this market.
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However Sonos additionally hinted at a brand new technique for the approaching yr, the beginning of a “multi-year product cycle which is able to show the payoff of the R&D investments [its] made” and can embrace “a serious product in a brand new multi-billion greenback class that can complement [its] present choices, excite prospects, and drive rapid income.”
Now we all know extra: A brand new report in Bloomberg that cites a number of sources sheds extra gentle on these plans, and it features a surprisingly lengthy and aggressive record of latest {hardware} merchandise, software program, and companies.
Chief amongst them is a pair of premium headphones that’s nearly definitely the complementary product that Sonos hinted ultimately week. Based mostly on expertise from its 2021 acquisition of RHA Audio, the primary Sonos headphones might arrive as quickly as March 2024 and can allegedly price $400 to $500, Bloomberg says. Codenamed “Duke,” they’re over-the-ear type headphones that can are available white and black colours, provide voice management capabilities, and can sync with Sonos sensible audio system. They are going to require a brand new cellular app, codenamed Passport, that can let customers management them and different Sonos cellular {hardware} when away from their house Wi-Fi networks.
However that’s not all.
Sonos can also be readying its first-ever push into video with its personal TV set-top field to compete with Apple TV and Roku. Codenamed Pinewood, this system will price $150 to $200, use its personal Android-based working system and run apps, and work as a “central hub” for the client’s Sonos system household. It’ll provide Dolby Atmos and Dolby Imaginative and prescient spatial audio and HDR video capabilities, and voice management, and will ship by the top of 2024. It may very well be accompanied by a Sonos-branded video service at launch or at a later time.
Sonos can also be engaged on house theater gear that can embrace a brand new Wi-Fi 6-capable Sub subwoofer that’s codenamed Lotus and can sync with Pinewood. There’s a brand new soundbar, codenamed Lasso, that can provide higher bass and audio than the present Arc soundbar due to “superior speaker elements” from the 2022 Sonos acquisition of Mayht Holding BV; it would price $1200. New 8-inch in-ceiling audio system. And a high-end amplifier, codenamed Premier, that’s aimed toward skilled house theater installers and can price $3000 to $4000.
There’s additionally a second-generation Roam moveable speaker, codenamed Sidecar, on the best way that can function redesigned contact controls on its high with a quantity slider just like its new 2023 audio system. And a extra premium model of the Period 100 speaker, codenamed Raven, with built-in Ethernet (versus simply Wi-Fi) that’s aimed toward eating places, retail shops, and different companies, and never customers, as a part of its enlargement into the enterprise market.
What this all provides as much as is an thrilling yr for Sonos followers comparable to myself. Whereas this previous yr’s new choices weren’t sufficient of an improve over my current audio system to warrant the funding, among the new merchandise that Sonos is ready to launch in 2024 ought to meet that bar.
