Sonos cancels Apple TV 4K competitor, per report – 9to5Mac

Last month, The Verge reported that Sonos was hard at work on a major new hardware product: a streaming box that would compete with the Apple TV 4K and cost up to $400. Now, it seems, Sonos has changed its plans and canceled its TV streaming product.Chris Welch writes at The Verge:Sonos has abandoned plans to release a streaming video player, the company’s leadership announced in an all-hands call today. The product, codenamed Pinewood, was set to be Sonos’ next major hardware launch. It was already deep into development and has spent months in beta testing. But now the team behind it will be reassigned to other projects as interim CEO Tom Conrad reprioritizes the company’s future roadmap and continues what he hopes will be a turnaround from a bruising 2024.This is just the latest in a string of major issues Sonos has grappled with over the past year.It all started with a big app redesign that frustrated users, and set off a year of attempted fixes, apologies, and ultimately the departure of the company’s CEO.The TV streaming product, ‘Pinewood,’ would potentially have represented a fresh start and brought renewed energy under new CEO Conrad.Now, however, that big new product swing won’t even be given a chance to succeed.Welch notes that the TV box being canceled leaves Sonos without ”a significant new product to ship in the second half of 2025.”I was fascinated to see what Sonos had in store for its first TV streaming box. Some of the details sounded intriguing.However, Pinewood undoubtedly would have been a big risk at a time the company is already struggling. If it had been a success, it could have done wonders to restore Sonos’s reputation. But the reported high price tag meant success would have been tough to achieve.Were you interested in Sonos’ TV streaming box? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments.FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:Ryan got his start in journalism as an Editor at MacStories, where he worked for four years covering Apple news, writing app reviews, and more. For two years he co-hosted the Adapt podcast on Relay FM, which focused entirely on the iPad. As a result, it should come as no surprise that his favorite Apple device is the iPad Pro.
Source: https://9to5mac.com/2025/03/12/sonos-cancels-apple-tv-4k-competitor-per-report/