Sonos Launches Sonos 27 Platform and 2 Devices After 2024 App Crisis

3 articles · Updated · The Verge · Sep 3

Tom Conrad said Sonos is moving beyond its 2024 app failure with Sonos 27, a named software platform meant to make every device work as one system.
The strategy follows Conrad’s January 2025 takeover and a reorganization of the roughly 1,500-person company around hardware, software and supply chain instead of product silos.
Sonos 27 adds a new voice assistant, MCP links to external AI tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini, and a “Custom Agents” preview for multiple assistant personalities on the same platform.
New hardware includes the $699 Beam Ultra soundbar and Ace Ultra headphones, with features such as portable speakers that auto-configure as rear surrounds and headphones that hand off audio from speakers without a phone.
The launch is Sonos’ clearest bid to recast itself as a yearly evolving software-and-hardware platform, while still working through gaps such as the absence of Google’s Gemini assistant on Sonos devices.