A listing on the FCC website suggests that Sonos could be readying a new smart wireless speaker
It’s the first week of January, the week before CES 2019 in Las Vegas and a details of a possible new product from Sonos have emerged. The FCC has published a filing made by the California based company that suggests its looking to expand its portfolio with a new speaker.
Related: CES 2019 – everything you need to know about CES Las Vegas this year
That new device comes with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, both of which we’d expect from any current wireless speaker. What makes this intriguing is that the ‘S18’, as it’s referred to in the document, appears to be a satellite speaker for the Sonos Playbar.
How so? The filing referred to the Playbar as the ‘master device’, with the speaker supposedly tested in conjunction with the Playbar, indicating its purpose as a satellite speaker rather than a standalone one. It’ll likely be compatible with the rest of Sonos’ home cinema range and not just the Playbar, though. We also expect the ‘S18′ to feature touch controls, multi-room functionality and voice activation considering Sonos’ direction in the past few years.
Another detail that makes us wonder what the purpose of this speaker is, is that the Sonos One, Play:1, Play:3 and Play:5 can act as surround speakers for the Playbase, Playbar and Beam in a 5.1 configuration. What would the ‘S18’ bring to the table that aforementioned speakers couldn’t? 7.1 surround sound? Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support? Is it just a satellite speaker or can it be used as a standalone unit? And considering neither the Beam, Playbar or Playbase are inexpensive, what price point would the ‘S18’ occupy?
It’s very much early days and FCC filings reveal very little information, but this ‘leak’ has certainly got us intrigued.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
