Sonos Plans Even Pricier Headphones Amid Low Ace Sales: Report

Sonos is facing challenges in selling its new Ace headphones, with only around 200,000 units sold through September, reports Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, citing unnamed sources.

The company planned to produce up to 1 million units annually but has since scaled back its manufacturing plans to just 10% of that target, say sources.

The launch of the Ace headphones has been hampered by the rollout of the new Sonos app, which was plagued with issues.

Glitches in the new app put Sonos into crisis mode and made a huge dent in its reputation. The new app was rushed to support the new Ace headphones, which cost $599 in Canada.

Last week, Sonos unveiled its new more expensive Arc Ultra and a new Sub subwoofer, and it remains to be seen if consumers will jump on these new launches despite the app recovery.

So what’s the Sonos plan to turn things around due to low Aces sales? Sources tell Gurman Sonos plans an even more expensive set of wireless headphones. Um, say what?

Codenamed ‘Roundhouse’, these would sell for $450 US, while the existing Ace would be cut by $50 US to $400 US (about $552 CAD). Gurman says this plan is in its early stages and some employees are skeptical about the idea.

Sonos prided itself on making great products that were easy to set up out of the box, and incredibly easy to use. But that reputation took a hit with the rough rollout of its new app. Sonos has since brought back most features that were lost but it may be too late to win back customers affected by the app’s rollout.