Sonos Rivals HomePod With New Assistant Speaker, Adding AirPlay 2 Support to Speakers Next Year

by

Sonos today introduced the Sonos One, an all-new smart speaker with six far-field microphones that allow it to work with digital assistants.

sonos one
Sonos One can be controlled entirely with voice. At launch, it will support Amazon Alexa in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom, including full voice support for Prime Music, iHeartRadio, Pandora, SiriusXM, and TuneIn. Alexa voice control for Spotify will be coming soon after launch.

Google Assistant support will be added in 2018, making the Sonos One the first smart speaker with support for multiple major assistants.

Sonos One can play music from more than 80 streaming services, including popular ones like Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play Music, Tidal, and Pandora. In addition, it supports other traditional Alexa capabilities related to the weather, timers, news and traffic reports, the latest sports scores, and more.


Sonos is releasing a free software update today that will enable many of its existing speakers to be controlled with Alexa as well. In the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom, Sonos owners can use any Alexa-enabled device like the Echo or Echo Dot to control the speaker with voice commands.

Sonos also announced that it will begin supporting Apple's AirPlay 2 in 2018, making it possible to play any sound from an iOS device on Sonos speakers. Apple users will also be able to control music on Sonos speakers with any Siri-enabled device, such as an iPhone, iPad, and the HomePod once it launches.

Sonos One comes in black or white, weighs four pounds, and has an illuminated LED indicator light to ensure you are always aware when the speaker's microphone is active. The speaker connects to a home's Wi-Fi network, and it also has one 10/100 Mbps Ethernet port for those who prefer a wired connection.

The speaker features premium audio quality, with two Class-D digital amplifiers tuned to match the speaker drivers and acoustic architecture, one tweeter, one mid-woofer, adjustable bass and treble controls, and a six far-field microphone array used for advanced beamforming and echo cancellation.

Sonos One will be available starting Tuesday, October 24 for $199 in the United States. Pre-orders start today.

Tags: AirPlay, Sonos

Popular Stories

Apple iPhone 16e Feature

Apple Announces iPhone 16e With A18 Chip and Apple Intelligence, Pricing Starts at $599

Wednesday February 19, 2025 8:02 am PST by
Apple today introduced the iPhone 16e, its newest entry-level smartphone. The device succeeds the third-generation iPhone SE, which has now been discontinued. The iPhone 16e features a larger 6.1-inch OLED display, up from a 4.7-inch LCD on the iPhone SE. The display has a notch for Face ID, and this means that Apple no longer sells any iPhones with a Touch ID fingerprint button, marking the ...
Read Full Article • 679 comments
iphone 17 pro asherdipps

iPhone 17 Pro Models Rumored to Feature Aluminum Frame Instead of Titanium Frame

Tuesday February 18, 2025 12:02 pm PST by
Over the years, Apple has switched from an aluminum frame to a stainless steel frame to a titanium frame for its highest-end iPhones. And now, it has been rumored that Apple will go back to using aluminum for three out of four iPhone 17 models. In an investor note with research firm GF Securities, obtained by MacRumors this week, Apple supply chain analyst Jeff Pu said the iPhone 17, iPhone...
Read Full Article • 175 comments
apple launch feb 2025 alt

Here Are the New Apple Products We're Still Expecting This Spring

Thursday February 20, 2025 5:06 am PST by
Now that Apple has announced its new more affordable iPhone 16e, our thoughts turn to what else we are expecting from the company this spring. There are three product categories that we are definitely expecting to get upgraded before spring has ended. Keep reading to learn what they are. If we're lucky, Apple might make a surprise announcement about a completely new product category. M4...
Read Full Article • 61 comments
Generic iOS 18

Here's When Apple Will Release iOS 18.4

Wednesday February 19, 2025 11:38 am PST by
Following the launch of the iPhone 16e, Apple updated its iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia pages to give a narrower timeline on when the next updates are set to launch. All three pages now state that new Apple Intelligence features and languages will launch in early April, an update from the more broader April timeframe that Apple provided before. The next major point updates will be iOS ...
Read Full Article • 46 comments
prioritize notifications ios 18 4

Everything New in iOS 18.4 Beta 1

Friday February 21, 2025 1:08 pm PST by
Apple finally released the first beta of iOS 18.4 to developers for testing purposes, and while the beta is lacking some of the Apple Intelligence features we were hoping for, there are some notable new additions. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Priority Notifications - Apple Intelligence There is a new Priority Notifications feature that can show you your most...
Read Full Article • 77 comments
apple launch feb 2025

Tim Cook Teases an 'Apple Launch' Next Wednesday

Thursday February 13, 2025 8:07 am PST by
In a social media post today, Apple CEO Tim Cook teased an upcoming "launch" of some kind scheduled for Wednesday, February 19. "Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," he said, with an #AppleLaunch hashtag. The post includes a short video with an animated Apple logo inside a circle. Cook did not provide an exact time for the launch, or share any other specific details, so...
Read Full Article • 286 comments
iPhone 16e Feature

Apple Denies Speculation Surrounding iPhone 16e's Lack of MagSafe

Friday February 21, 2025 8:01 am PST by
Apple has confirmed that its custom-designed C1 modem in the iPhone 16e has nothing to do with the device's lack of MagSafe support, according to Macworld. Following the launch of the iPhone 16e, there was some speculation online about how MagSafe magnets might have interfered with the C1 modem's cellular connectivity performance, and this was considered to be a potential reason for the...
Read Full Article • 152 comments
ios 18 4 ambient music

iOS 18.4 Adds New Ambient Music Feature

Friday February 21, 2025 11:06 am PST by
In iOS 18.4, there's a new Ambient Music option that can be added to Control Center. There are four different sound categories, including Sleep, Chill, Productivity, and Wellbeing. Each category can be added to Control Center separately, and tapping one plays a random selection of sounds or music from that particular category. You can't choose what's playing from Control Center, but if...
Read Full Article • 38 comments

Top Rated Comments

WannaGoMac Avatar
WannaGoMac
96 months ago
Begun the speaker assistant war has...
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
avanpelt Avatar
avanpelt
96 months ago
If Sonos is releasing a $199 speaker with voice assistant compatibility built in, you better believe Apple will be lowering the price of HomePod. There is no way Siri is worth a $150 price premium over a comparable Sonos product.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Blakjack Avatar
Blakjack
96 months ago
Sonos just shatted on Apple. There speaker will support both rivals voice assistants and will be 130 bucks cheaper? If the Apple homepod doesn’t have significantly better sound quality It’s going to be a sad day. There is no way whatsoever Apple can support a claim their homepod is worth even 50 dollars more at this point. I understand they are selling it’s sound quality but let’s be real....the Siri function is what’s important in this smart speaker race. And we all know Siri is literal garbage compared to the likes of Google assistant and Alexa. To add to its lack of value, companies aren’t adopting Apple’s HomeKit at a rate that justifies buying the homepod over this new Sonos One. I was so exited about going broke (not really) by buying two homepods. But now I can save some money and buy two Sonos ones and actually get a superior product.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
green94 Avatar
green94
96 months ago
The Sonis One is basically a Play 1 with extra mics. It’s not even in the same league as the HomePod, which is better than the Play 3 and closing in on the Play 5 for sound quality.

The premium you pay for a HomePod isn’t Siri. It’s for the real-time modeling/sound processing.
Have you heard the HomePod first hand? Curious if you are making assumptions on sound quality based on previews from the internet.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
duffman9000 Avatar
duffman9000
96 months ago
I have an echo. We use it for comedy effect (I don’t know what else to use it for).
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JamesLeSmash Avatar
JamesLeSmash
96 months ago
Finally! Airplay! I hope the airplay update will be available for all existing sonos speakers. It's not much of an issue for me because I can play music from my library off the Sonos app on my phone, but when I want to play off my macbook, I have to airplay through an Apple TV.

The Sonos One sounds interesting to me in particular because I already have Sonos speakers in my house.
Why don't you use the Sonos.app for MacOS?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments