It is time to forget the Sony WH-1000XM4. Sonos is ready to release its own wireless headphone
A new patent suggests that Sonos is still hard at work on its debut pair of wireless headphones, and gives us a look at their possible design and functionality. The patent shows a couple of designs that look similar to other over-ear headphones from the likes of Sony and Sennheiser. It also mentions support for multiple voice assistants via wake words.
Sonos’ patent suggests that the company’s headphones might integrate into its smart speaker ecosystem. Protocol points to one part of the patent that describes how the headphones would “swap” playback to another device on the local network. This means that the headphones may be able to handoff music to a set of speakers.
Releasing a pair of portable headphones would be a huge change for Sonos. It has historically focused on making wireless speakers for the home. It’s also been repellent to using Bluetooth audio. Bluetooth is pretty much your only option if you want to make wireless headphones. However, late last year the company released the Sonos Move, its first portable, a battery-powered speaker which also works using Bluetooth. This suggests that their direction might be taking a turn.
A spokesperson from Sonos declined to confirm the existence of the headphones in a statement given to Protocol. “As a company founded in innovation, we are always working on different innovations that can help the world listen better,” they said, adding, “We continue to make investments in our strong patent with dozens of new ones each year. We do not have additional information to share at this time regarding our future product roadmap.”
