A recently granted patent recommends that Sonos is still hard at work on its launching pair of wireless earphones, and offers us an appearance at their possible design and functionality, Procedure reports The patent shows a couple of styles that look comparable to other over-ear headphones from the likes of Sony and Sennheiser.
There have actually been reports that Sonos is working on a pair of headphones for over a year now. In early 2019 Bloomberg was first to report on their presence, and said that the audio business was working on a pair of earphones that would cost over $300 and would include assistance for multiple voice assistants. Sonos speakers support both Amazon “Alexa” and “Hey Google” wake words. Bloomberg reported that the earphones could release in 2020.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21831309/msedge_yLEO8VIm79.jpg?ssl=1)
Sonos’ patent suggests that the company’s headphones might incorporate effortlessly into its existing clever speaker environment. Protocol points to one section of the patent that describes how the earphones would “swap” playback to another gadget on the regional network, suggesting that the headphones may be able to handoff music to a set of house speakers.
Launching a set of portable headphones would be a big change of rate for Sonos, which has traditionally focused on making cordless speakers for the home. It’s also been resistant to utilizing Bluetooth audio, which is quite much your only choice if you want to make cordless headphones.
A spokesperson from Sonos decreased to verify the existence of the earphones in a statement given to Protocol “As a business founded in development, we’re always working on different ideas and developments that can assist the world listen better,” they stated, adding, “We continue to make financial investments in our strong patent portfolio with lots of new patents each year.
News of its possible entry into a new item classification comes at a crucial time for Sonos, which has actually had a hard time amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It revealed in June that it would be laying off 12 percent of its workforce and close its retailers in Manhattan along with 6 satellite offices. In August, investors grew worried with supply scarcities impacting item availability. Sonos is likewise currently participated in a legal fight with Google over its claims that the search giant stole its smart speaker tech( Google has countersued for patent violation), and has leveled comparable accusations at Amazon