The rumored voice assistant from Sonos now has a reported launch date of June 1, 2022.
In 2021, rumors began to emerge that Sonos had started working on its own voice assistant technology in a bid to supplement (or even rival) the existing integration the company’s smart speakers have with both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. Now, a new report from The Verge, that cites unnamed people familiar with the company’s plans, suggests that Sonos is very close to launching such a service and we could see it as soon as June 1, 2022 in the U.S., with other countries to follow. Digital Trends reached out to Sonos representatives for comment on the reported launch of Sonos Voice but we were told only that, “We don’t comment on rumor or speculation.” This new report comes on the heels of a Sonos leak for a new speaker that will reportedly be called the Sonos Ray — a soundbar-style speaker that will be smaller and less expensive than the Sonos Beam. It’s been suggested that the Ray could be used in pairs as surround sound speakers with either a Beam for 5.1 sound, or a Beam Gen 2 or a Sonos Arc for 5.1.4 Dolby Atmos sound. Why would Sonos want its own voice system? Well, it’s no secret that Sonos and Google have not had the smoothest of relationships. It took Sonos far longer than it expected to integrate Google’s Assistant as an option on Sonos’ line of voice-enabled speakers like the Sonos One, Sonos Beam, and Sonos Move. And then in 2020, Sonos launched a lawsuit against Google alleging that the search giant had violated some of Sonos’ patents related to multiroom audio.
