Sonos is currently lining up its Era 100 and Era 300 speakers for their local launch next week. In the meantime, the company is also lining up something to be released later in the year. Specifically in the second half of the year, with the speaker in question being the the second generation Sonos Move. The Verge reports that it is currently under development, with the actual unveiling expected to be in late summer or early fall, or between late third quarter and early fourth quarter.
The report notes this second generation Sonos Move as coming with a model number of S44, and will look mostly similar to the original. A number of features will also be returning, with improvements to them. One example is the support for both Bluetooth and WiFi playback, where in the first generation model, switching between the two will require manual toggling by the user. This second generation portable speaker reportedly fixes this, which is a massive quality-of-life improvement.
Adding to the two wireless connectivity options would be support for in-line playback. The first Sonos Move was purely wireless, offering no options to plug in a device using cables. With the upcoming second generation speaker, this will reportedly be an option. Though said report notes that it will likely come in the form of the existing USB-C charging port, rather than a dedicated 3.5mm audio jack. Adding on to all that are general processor and memory upgrades that make it eligible for new software updates.
While this is all well and good, the report notes that “these plans and hardware features are always subject to change”. And there’s still quite a bit of time before the planned reveal of this second generation Sonos Move for that to happen. According to the report, “hardware launches could be delayed if things get rocky”.
(Source: The Verge)
