Back in March, I told you that Sonos is working on a second-generation Move speaker due for release this year. And now, as spotted by Janko Roettgers, the upcoming portable speaker has made its way through the FCC. The filing matches up with my earlier report and identifies the next Sonos hardware product as model S44.
The FCC documentation also confirms one key upgrade that I mentioned in March: the Move (Gen 2) will support Bluetooth and Wi-Fi at the same time instead of making you toggle between them like the original speaker did (via a switch on the back). As a result, just like the Roam, Era 100, and Era 300, the next Move will let you play something over Bluetooth and then relay that audio to the rest of your Sonos system.
There’s not much else to glean from the filing; Sonos has made the usual confidentiality request with the FCC to hide photos, user manuals, and other goodies. But this step at least confirms that the Move (Gen 2) is getting closer. Oh, and it’ll support more robust Wi-Fi 6 connectivity.
I don’t yet know exactly when the company is planning to release it. But I’d expect an announcement before the end of summer; it’s a portable speaker that’s great for outdoor gatherings, after all. And there’s precedent for a new Sonos gadget to hit the market fairly soon after its FCC debut; the Sonos Roam appeared at the FCC one month ahead of the company’s announcement. Well, I guess technically we announced it first.
The Move (Gen 2) will certainly be more convenient to use thanks to the dual-mode Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. But I’m hoping that’s not all there is to this story; surely, there will also be some audio performance improvements. An upgrade to stereo drivers like the Era 100 would make an already-excellent speaker sound even better. I also hope the Move (Gen 2) will preserve the original’s focus on longevity; Sonos offers a $69 battery replacement kit to help the music keep playing far, far into the future.
In April, Sonos announced its first software as a service (SaaS) called Sonos Pro. The monthly subscription service provides businesses with an easy-to-use dashboard for playing legally compliant music in commercial spaces. That was the first of four new product categories that the company has said it will enter over the coming years.
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