Sonos has reportedly cancelled its plans to launch an Apple TV 4K-rivalling streaming box.
Last month we reported on the news of a major Sonos launch into an all-new product category later this year. Development was said to be dar along, with the product having spent months in beta testing.
However, The Verge is now reporting that Sonos has cancelled the project altogether. Apparently, Sonos executives announced the news at an all-hands company call that was held yesterday.
What was Sonos’s project Pinewood?
The product referred to internally as Pinewood was to be a high-end video streaming device that would rival the Apple TV 4K, Google TV Streamer and Roku Streaming Stick 4K.
It would have looked like a nondescript black square not much thicker than a deck of cards.
As well as boasting the usual 4K HDR playback chops, Pinewood would have featured a unified UI that pulled in content from all the usual streaming services. It would have had a powerful universal search system and Sonos Voice Control for easy navigation.
Where Sonos’s streaming box would really have stood out from the crowd is with its alleged HDMI passthrough functionality. Apparently you would have been able to plug your games console, Blu-Ray player, and other connected devices into the Sonos box, which would then lay on lag-free wireless audio to Sonos soundbars and speakers.
It would even have been able to configure a full surround sound system from disparate Sonos speakers.
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Why has Sonos cancelled its streaming box?
While the project was originally green-lit by former CEO Patrick Spence, interim CEO Tom Conrad is said to have a different view.
In particular, Conrad is said to be focused on strengthening the company’s core essentials in order to repair its damaged reputation. In particular the company still needs to restore faith in its software after the disastrous relaunch of the Sonos app.
It seems the team working on Pinewood will now be reassigned to other Sonos projects, with a push into video said to be off the table “for now”.
All of which means there’ll likely be no big Sonos launch in 2025, with the company’s last launch having been the Sonos Sub Gen 4 and Arc Ultra back in October 2024.
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