Sonos considers high-end headphones after Ace gross sales battle, says report

Sonos Ace headphones. | Picture credit score — Sonos

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman lately shared insights into Sonos’s struggles with its Ace headphones and the corporate’s potential plans to deal with the difficulty. The audio firm is reportedly contemplating creating a higher-end headphone mannequin after disappointing gross sales of its Ace headphones.Sonos had excessive hopes for the Ace headphones, aiming to promote as many as 1 million models. Nonetheless, as a result of varied components, together with a problematic app launch and the headphones’ $450 price ticket, gross sales have been considerably decrease than anticipated. Gurman studies that solely about 200,000 models have been offered via September. The flawed app has exacerbated the issue, as considered one of its predominant functions was to create a brand new system to manage the Ace headphones.The corporate’s current app revamp, meant to assist new merchandise just like the Ace headphones, has been plagued with glitches and negatively impacted gross sales. This app overhaul was imagined to usher in a brand new era of merchandise with a recent software program interface, however as a substitute, it plunged the corporate right into a disaster. Regardless of these setbacks, Sonos stays dedicated to the headphone market and is exploring choices to enhance its place.

One technique into consideration is the event of a higher-end headphone mannequin, codenamed “Roundhouse.” This might contain decreasing the value of the present Ace mannequin by $50 and introducing the brand new upscale model on the unique $450 value level. Whereas some Sonos workers are skeptical about this method, the discussions spotlight the corporate’s acknowledgment of the challenges it faces with the Ace headphones.

The brand new Sonos Arc Extremely soundbar. | Picture credit score — Sonos

Along with its headphone endeavors, Sonos lately launched two new merchandise: the Arc Extremely and a brand new Sub subwoofer. These additions have been a part of a roadmap that Gurman had beforehand reported on. He additionally indicated that a lot of the different objects on that roadmap, together with a set-top field product, ought to nonetheless be coming, albeit with some delays. It stays to be seen how these new product launches will fare out there, particularly given the corporate’s current struggles with the Ace headphones and its app.

It will likely be attention-grabbing to see how this technique of decreasing the value of the prevailing Ace headphones and releasing a better finish one on the unique Ace value performs out for them — particularly given the prevailing challenges they face with the Ace headphones. I am additionally curious to see how the brand new Arc Extremely and Sub subwoofer carry out out there and what options the delayed set-top field product will supply. I consider that Sonos must rigorously contemplate its pricing technique and be sure that its merchandise supply compelling worth to shoppers in an effort to regain its footing out there.