Sonos Explored Creating A Magsafe Speaker For Iphones

Not agelong earlier past year’s package quagmire thrust nan institution into controversy, Sonos tinkered pinch an thought that immoderate labour believed mightiness resonate pinch Gen Z customers. Engineers astatine Sonos prototyped a miniature speaker that could magnetically nexus to nan backmost of Apple’s caller iPhones.

At slightest conceptually, nan since-abandoned merchandise sounds alternatively akin to JBL’s Soundboost speaker. Released backmost successful 2016, that MotoMod accessory was designed to link to Motorola’s Moto Z lineup of smartphones. Any clip you placed it connected nan phone, euphony and different audio would automatically play done nan Soundboost, which offered louder and overmuch powerful sound than a phone’s very mini speakers.

But nan MotoMod strategy utilized pogo pins for routing audio and different accusation to accessories. MagSafe does not relationship audio passthrough capabilities, truthful nan Sonos speaker would’ve relied connected a Bluetooth narration (Trying to merge Wi-Fi for illustration nan Roam would’ve been excessively overmuch of a artillery drain.) This thought isn’t without precedent successful nan iOS world; Scosche’s BoomCan is simply a accusation speaker that tin latch onto iPhones pinch MagSafe. You tin too find akin gadgets connected Amazon aliases Temu.

According to images that I’ve seen, Sonos envisioned a overmuch rectangular design. The prototypes were nan aforesaid wide style and size arsenic Apple’s discontinued MagSafe Battery Pack, but thicker. Early on, Sonos hoped nan magnetic speaker would showcase nan innovative transducer exertion that came pinch its acquisition of Mayht Holding successful 2022 and coming amazingly bully sound astatine a compact size. But method limitations, questionable appeal, and a constricted target marketplace yet led to nan instrumentality being scrapped. Like immoderate personification tech company, Sonos researches and prototypes galore concepts that don’t ever spot nan ray of day.

Mayht’s exertion was yet rebranded arsenic “SoundMotion” and made its debut successful nan awesome Arc Ultra soundbar. I personification nary uncertainty that Sonos will find different innovative ways of building SoundMotion into early products; if nan Arc Ultra is point to spell by, nan astir evident usage is substantially improved bass. The caller soundbar easy surpasses nan original Arc successful that respect contempt not being overmuch larger.

On Wednesday, Sonos interim CEO Tom Conrad announced that nan institution would laic disconnected 200 labor (around 12 percent of its workforce) successful an effort to reshape itself into flatter, smaller, and overmuch focused teams. “Lately we’ve fto excessively galore projects tally nether a unreality of half-commitment,” he said successful a memo to staff. “We’re going to spread this too.” For now, nan apical privilege astatine Sonos remains overcoming nan harm done aft nan institution prematurely released an overhauled mobile app backmost successful May. “Improving nan halfway acquisition is captious to fueling nan Sonos flywheel,” Sonos wrote successful nan investor position released pinch its latest net earlier today. Conrad will large his first nett telephone arsenic interim CEO connected Thursday afternoon.