There’s a new Sonos speaker which, surprise, surprise, leaked ahead of its unveiling at the end of March through an online retailer.
Despite a smattering of new from the company (such as a new Amp), it’s the first big launch since the Arc Ultra, and the question I’m asking is whether the Play is what Sonos needs right now.
The Arc Ultra impressed us, but without any sales data to hand, I couldn’t say how successful it’s been with customers. But following on from the Roam 2 which launched to little fanfare, and the Ace headphones, which received mixed reviews – the Play needs to kickstart a good run for Sonos, especially after the app debacle a few years ago.
Ever since the mishap with its new app rollout, Sonos has been trying to placate its customer base and repair any reputational damage. You can only restore faith by releasing good products.
And I don’t doubt the Play won’t be good, but based on the leaks, this isn’t a statement launch that puts the brand back on the map. It does feel low key.
The specs don’t feel as if they’re especially different from what others offer, and while the mooted price is competitive enough, there’s competition. The excellent JBL Charge 5 Wi-Fi was £229 when it first came out, but now you could get it for £139.99. Trying to convince the non-Sonos fan to pick up the Play for £299 / $299 therefore is going to be a struggle, I think.
There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that, and perhaps Sonos is taking the strategy of building up to bigger launches if there’s more hardware coming in 2026. But of all the things I would have felt you needed from Sonos, a speaker that sits between Roam 2 and the Move 2 is not what comes first to mind.
I suspect that most would have thought the Beam 3 would be on the launch schedule. I would have also expected another model in the Era series, given that we only have a Era 100 and Era 300 –another lineup that feels like its been left to father dust at the moment.
A replacement for the Five would make a degree of sense (Era 500?) but as you could probably surmise by yourself, these suggestions are updates of existing products or line-ups. This is what we Sonos to be already good at, and while updates would be appreciated, they won’t move the needle in any substantial way.
There’s nothing wrong with slow and steady but it does matter what product you launch and when. If Sonos wanted to make a splash, this isn’t the product to do this with.
Instead Sonos needs a product that people actually want – that they’d make some noise about. The Sonos Play on the other hand is likely to cause a degree of indifference, and that’s not the right play
