Sonos made the right decision canceling its ultra-expensive Apple TV competitor

It was reported earlier this year that Sonos was planning on making an Apple TV 4K competitor, but there were a lot of things to be worried about. The biggest issue with the rumored device was the price tag. The most expensive Apple TV 4K costs $150, a high price for a streaming box as it is, but Sonos was planning on going well beyond that.

The rumored price was somewhere between $200 and $400, and it was difficult to imagine it ever being a real player with a price tag that high. As it turns out, maybe Sonos thought the same thing. The Verge reports Sonos stopped development of the device and plans on shifting attention elsewhere. It’s not like this Sonos box was in early development either, as The Verge said it has already spent months in beta testing. This is a major shift, but it might be for the best.

Related

The Roku Ultra might be better than the Apple TV 4K for movies

Movie lovers will love the Roku Ultra.

Sonos made the right choice

There was no way this was going to work

Apple

In 2025, Google, Amazon, Apple, and Roku all have offerings on the market that let you leave behind your smart TV’s user interface and use something better. A lot of those products have been around for a long time now, and there’s a good chance you might already own one or two. Any time a new company enters the fray, it’s exciting, but it leads you to make a decision.

Many of these platforms make you buy into a specific ecosystem. For example, buying things on your Apple TV makes it so you’re essentially locked into using Apple products. Even though my Android phone has an Apple TV app, it doesn’t come with any of the purchases I made on my Apple TV, so there’s a big downside there. I imagine Sonos would’ve worked in a similar way, and that’s a tough sell for somebody entering the space now. It would be like another company making a video game console to compete with Xbox and PlayStation. It’d be hard to sway somebody to leave behind their digital library and achievements to start fresh somewhere else.

The other main issue was the cost of the device. I just can’t imagine a world where somebody was willing to dish out hundreds of dollars for a streaming box that works largely the same as what’s already on the market. Sure, it could’ve integrated with the greater Sonos ecosystem, but the reality is that the price tag was going to be out of reach for anybody but the home theater enthusiast. Currently, enthusiasts who fit that bill go for the Apple TV 4K thanks to its slew of features, including theater aspect ratios that came in an update to close out 2024. Now, if you imagine somebody having to pay more than double the price for similar features, it’s hard to think of how Sonos could’ve overtaken anybody on the market.

Sonos wasn’t going to be competitive in the budget area because that’s already covered by the different Roku and Fire TV streaming sticks, and the high-end area has to compete with Apple. There are already three generations of Apple TV 4Ks, and a rumored fourth one is set to arrive this year. Sonos would have to compete with nearly a decade of brand loyalty there, and it would’ve been an uphill battle.

Related

The Roku Ultra made my home smarter, the streaming was just a bonus

The Roku Ultra is an underrated smart home device.

A crowded market was too much

There’s still room for innovation

I picked up a Google Chromecast 4K a few years ago to try out the short-lived Stadia service, but outside of that, I never really messed around with a dedicated streaming device until I bought an Apple TV 4K. Since buying the Apple TV, I’ve also picked up a Roku Ultra and Fire TV Stick 4K Max to go in my bedroom and basement respectively. All three of these devices do different things, and the Apple TV 4K is still my favorite of them all.

If the rumored price of the Sonos box was accurate, all three of these devices come in cheaper than what it would’ve been. No matter what the box did, I can’t envision a world where the value was worth the price. As it stands, the big companies like Google, Amazon, Roku and Apple all dominate the field. New competitors don’t typically rise up out of nowhere to compete in areas like this, even if they are Sonos.

Part of the reason this box may have been scrapped is the fact it was greenlit by old Sonos CEO Patrick Spence, somebody who was replaced at the beginning of the year. Inheriting a product that doesn’t have a clear future is a tough pill to swallow, and that could’ve been a driving reason for the cancelation on top of the cost.

Sonos did have an interesting thing going in that it acted as a receiver of sorts that allowed for HDMI switching and home surround sound support. None of the other streaming devices on the market had that functionality, so it was a good entry point to the greater world of home theater setups. For me personally, a lot of that functionality would’ve gone to waste since I already have a receiver, so it feels like the high price tag to add all of that would’ve been lost on me since I wouldn’t utilize it.

The unfortunate part of all this is that now we’ll never know what Sonos was really cooking up. It’s always exciting to see something new, even if it’s something you feel will be dead on arrival. I don’t want to see any company stop innovating, and having new competition is always the way to make that happen. Luckily, Apple has continued to release cool updates, even if I haven’t been able to take advantage of everything. I’m still on a first-gen Apple TV 4K, so I miss out on a lot of the new features, so I’m hoping those rumors about a new generation are true. Maybe one day we’ll see Sonos come out with a streaming box, and if that day comes, I hope it’s something more affordable than what was planned here.

Related

How I turned my Apple TV 4K into a retro gaming powerhouse

The Apple TV 4K is a surprisingly competent gaming machine.