Ever since Amazon launched the first Echo, people have been looking at Sonos — the biggest name in smart home speakers — and assuming that a competitor is coming. Well, the wait seems to finally be over.
An FCC filing has been unveiled that shows a “S13” Sonos product with “integrated voice control functionality,” according to Dave Zatz. The filing follows previous indications that Sonos is working on smart speaker functionality, including a public statement from its CEO that he wants his products to work with “all the services that matter.”
The FCC filing gives us a number of indications that Sonos is going to make good on that promise:
The EUT is 802.11 a/b/g/n (HT20) Client Device. Product model S13 is a high-performance all-in-one wireless smart speaker and part of Sonos’ home sound system. S13 adds integrated voice control functionality with far field microphones. Moreover, the device will support multiple voice platforms and music services, allowing customers to effortlessly control their music on Sonos.
The most important thing here is the “multiple voice platforms” that the filing describes. Hopefully, that means support for at least Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant, although you could imagine Samusng pushing to get Bixby on there. Support for Siri would be fantastic, but given that Apple’s about to come out with a speaker it specifically described as a rival to Sonos, that seems unlikely.
A leaked FCC filing normally means a device is coming in the near future. A launch in the next month, with sales beginning in time for the holidays, would make perfect sense.
