Sonos’ scrapped streaming box was a disaster waiting to happen.
Sonos quietly pulled the plug on its most ambitious project to date.
The streaming box, codenamed “Pinewood,” was meant to be the company’s flagship hardware launch for 2025.
But, after a brutally challenging year, this surprising move might actually be the smartest decision they’ve made in a while.
Why Pinewood Was Doomed From the Start
The news came suddenly—Sonos was scrapping a nearly finished product. But was Pinewood ever a good idea in the first place?
Let’s be honest: who was actually asking for this? The streaming hardware market is already saturated with entrenched players like Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Google Chromecast.
These brands have spent years refining their ecosystems, locking in users with powerful integrations and services.
So what was Pinewood supposed to bring to the table?
Sonos pitched it as a premium streaming box priced between $200 and $400 with:
- The same streaming apps available on competing devices
- A deep universal search and content aggregation
- HDMI passthrough for gaming consoles and Blu-ray players
- The ability to enable new surround sound setups with Sonos speakers
That last point was its only unique selling point, and even that wasn’t a game-changer.
Would people really replace their tried-and-true streaming device just for better surround sound configurations?
And at that price point? Unlikely.
Sonos Can’t Afford Another Ace-Style Misstep
The Sonos Ace headphones were supposed to be a game-changer for the company—its first real push into the competitive headphone market.
But instead of being a must-have addition to the Sonos ecosystem, the Ace left many users confused about who it was actually for.
The problem? It didn’t meet the expectations of Sonos’ most loyal customers.
People assumed that, like Sonos speakers, the Ace would integrate seamlessly into multi-room audio setups and work over WiFi.
Instead, it was just another premium Bluetooth headphone competing against Apple, Sony, and Bose. All of which have already perfected the formula.
Pinewood was following the same flawed playbook. It was a high-end device entering an already saturated market without an obvious advantage. But this time, the potential risk was even greater.
Besides, Sonos is still trying to recover from a disastrous year, with the app overhaul backlash and a CEO change shaking confidence in the brand.
The last thing it needed was another costly launch that missed the mark.
The Ace was at least a well-received product, even if it wasn’t quite what Sonos fans expected. Pinewood, on the other hand, could have been a financial and reputational disaster.
Sonos Needs Software Fixes, Not More Hardware
Perhaps the best reason to celebrate Pinewood’s demise is Sonos’ ongoing software struggles.
The disastrous app overhaul under former CEO Patrick Spence eroded user trust and left many longtime customers frustrated. Even now, Sonos is still in recovery mode, trying to fix what it broke.
So why would launching yet another software-dependent product (one that could introduce even more complications) be a good idea?
And then there’s the ad tech elephant in the room.
Pinewood wasn’t just another Sonos device. It was set to run on an operating system developed by The Trade Desk (an ad tech company). While Sonos downplayed this connection, it raised serious red flags about how advertising might have been integrated into the experience.
For a company that built its reputation on premium, ad-free home audio, this would have been a dangerous shift.
If Sonos really wants to regain consumer trust, doubling down on its core ecosystem (not gambling on an ad-tech-powered streaming box) is the right move.
Why This Could Be a Turning Point for Sonos
Sonos built its name on game-changing wireless audio, but lately, the company has been losing focus.
The cancellation of Pinewood isn’t just a product being scrapped. It’s a long-overdue wake-up call.
For years, Sonos has chased expansion into markets it wasn’t built for—first with the Sonos Ace headphones, now with a streaming device.
Each time, it ran into the same problem: trying to compete with giants that had already perfected the space. And, Pinewood would have been another misstep, another distraction from what Sonos actually does well.
This move shows someone at Sonos finally understands that.
Instead of forcing out a product that would have struggled to gain traction, the company is cutting its losses and refocusing on what matters.
That’s not just a good decision. It’s the only smart move Sonos could have made.
Some users were excited about Pinewood’s potential for surround sound setups, but Sonos doesn’t need to launch a streaming box to make that happen.