Sonos Headphones may not be the only wearable audio accessory the company is working, as a patent filing that was published by the USPTO in February contains some very interesting earbud imagery.
The gist of the patent relates to novel charging approaches, methods to efficiently extend play time via something like detachable battery plates. But beyond those technical considerations, which seem like they could be somewhat fussy in the real world, we very clearly see two styles of potential Sonos earbuds and three charging case approaches – including what looks to be a USB-C input.
I haven’t yet been able to turn up additional Sonos earbuds details through other sources. And a patent filing, along with its associated imagery, doesn’t always result in a tangible consumer product. Like this sleep detecting DVR. Yet, Sonos has indicated they’re leaning into mobile audio experiences — as recently reinforced by release of the highly regarded Sonos Roam and Audi tie-up.
Most interesting for me, as Sonos presumably cranks away on headphones, now possibly earbuds, and in relation to the Roam, how does the company transition their app experience and cloud services to Bluetooth? As currently implemented with the Roam, you gotta beam music, podcasts, etc from their associated specific smartphone apps while mobile vs enjoying Sonos’ original secret sauce of aggregating all our providers… plus exposing the relatively new Sonos Radio, which could be both a selling point and revenue center. Surely this can be done, given the way Amazon’s Alexa app relays my SiriusXM to the new Echo Buds while on the go.