Sonos appears ready to introduce a portable speaker that slots neatly between its compact Roam 2 and larger Move 2 models. A recently leaked listing revealed a ”slightly shrunk-down” Move 2 with Bluetooth and AirPlay 2 support, priced around $300 USD, aiming to bridge the gap in Sonos’s portable lineup.
The leak surfaced briefly on Best Buy Canada’s website before being removed, showing a product that offers 24 hours of battery life, IP67 water resistance, an AUX input, USB-C charging, and even a wireless charging base. Design-wise, the speaker includes a carrying loop on its back, emphasizing portability. The listing suggested a release date of March 31.
A strategic middle ground for Sonos’s portable speakers
Sonos has so far positioned the Roam 2 as an entry-level portable speaker and the Move 2 as a more premium, bulky option. This new mid-tier model threads the needle by combining extended battery life and premium connectivity in a more portable form than the Move 2, but with more features and power than the Roam 2. That $300 price point arguably makes more sense for consumers wanting better sound and battery without committing to the Move 2’s heft and cost.
The inclusion of AirPlay 2 alongside Bluetooth boosts this speaker’s appeal for Apple ecosystem users, who currently lack a dedicated portable AirPlay 2 speaker. Although Apple’s Beats Pill offers portable Bluetooth at a lower price, it lacks Sonos’s multiroom system advantages and refined integration. Sonos seems focused on creating a versatile speaker that complements both wireless standards smoothly.
Sonos’s competitive positioning against Apple and others
The leak arrives amid growing competition in smart portable speakers, where brands like Apple, Bose, and JBL continuously juggle battery life, size, and connectivity features. Sonos’s approach of uniting AirPlay 2 and sturdy Bluetooth with high water resistance and wireless charging suggests it’s doubling down on convenience and ecosystem integration-areas that often trip up rival devices.
Meanwhile, Sonos’s ongoing improvements to its iPhone app, such as upcoming lock screen playback controls, indicate a broader strategy to deepen Apple user loyalty. A mid-tier portable speaker with enhanced feature sets might help Sonos capture more casual listeners who want seamless multi-device use without overpaying.
Sonos watching Apple’s moves is inevitable, especially as Apple’s own portable audio options are limited mostly to Bluetooth-only Beats products. With this new speaker, Sonos could firmly claim the niche of premium portable AirPlay 2 connectivity that Apple itself hasn’t yet filled.
March’s rumored release date will be a test of how the portable speaker market values a hybrid offering from Sonos that mixes the compact with the capable. Whether consumers embrace this middle ground or stick with established models will reveal if Sonos’s strategy changes the portable speaker game or simply tweaks an existing product family.