Sonos explored creating a MagSafe speaker for iPhones

Not long before last year’s software quagmire thrust the company into controversy, Sonos tinkered with an idea that some employees believed might resonate with Gen Z customers. Engineers at Sonos prototyped a miniature speaker that could magnetically connect to the back of Apple’s recent iPhones.

At least conceptually, the since-abandoned product sounds rather similar to JBL’s Soundboost speaker. Released back in 2016, that MotoMod accessory was designed to attach to Motorola’s Moto Z lineup of smartphones. Any time you placed it on the phone, music and other audio would automatically play through the Soundboost, which offered louder and more powerful sound than a phone’s very small speakers.

But the MotoMod system used pogo pins for routing audio and other data to accessories. MagSafe does not offer audio passthrough capabilities, so the Sonos speaker would’ve relied on a Bluetooth connection (Trying to integrate Wi-Fi like the Roam would’ve been too much of a battery drain.) This idea isn’t without precedent in the iOS world; Scosche’s BoomCan is a circular speaker that can latch onto iPhones with MagSafe. You can also find similar gadgets on Amazon or Temu.

But according to images that I’ve seen, Sonos envisioned a more rectangular design. The prototypes were the same overall shape and size as Apple’s discontinued MagSafe battery, but thicker. Early on, Sonos hoped the magnetic speaker would showcase the innovative transducer technology that came with its acquisition of Mayht Holding in 2022 and deliver surprisingly good sound at a compact size. But technical limitations, questionable appeal, and a limited target market ultimately led to the device being scrapped. Like any consumer tech company, Sonos researches and prototypes many concepts that don’t always see the light of day.

Mayht’s technology was eventually rebranded as “SoundMotion” and made its debut in the impressive Arc Ultra soundbar. I have no doubt that Sonos will find other innovative ways of building SoundMotion into future products; if the Arc Ultra is anything to go by, the most obvious benefit is substantially improved bass. The new soundbar easily surpasses the original Arc in that regard despite not being much larger.

On Wednesday, Sonos interim CEO Tom Conrad announced that the company would lay off 200 employees (around 12 percent of its workforce) in an effort to reshape itself into flatter, smaller, and more focused teams. “Lately we’ve let too many projects run under a cloud of half-commitment,” he said in a memo to staff. “We’re going to fix this too.” For now, the top priority at Sonos remains overcoming the damage done after the company prematurely released an overhauled mobile app back in May. “Improving the core experience is critical to fueling the Sonos flywheel,” Sonos wrote in the investor presentation released with its latest earnings earlier today. Conrad will host his first earnings call as interim CEO on Thursday afternoon.