Sonos is preparing to release its own smart speaker in the near future which potentially integrates multiple voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant.
The first information about the Sonos S13 “high-performance all-in-one wireless smart speaker” leaked through a filing published by the US Federal Communications Commission, which was initially discovered by Zatz Not Funny.
According to the filing, the S13 smart speaker “adds integrated voice control functionality with far field microphones”. It isn’t clear whether the S13 is a redesign of an existing Sonos speaker or a newly designed product.
“Multiple voice platforms and music services” are said to be supported by the smart speaker, suggesting it may pack in support for both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, or possibly another combination involving other voice assistants like Samsung’s Bixby.
Sonos joins an ever-increasing list of companies entering the smart speaker market currently dominated by Amazon’s Alexa-powered Echo that first launched in 2015.
Google has recently taken some market share with the Google Home released last year, and Apple is set to launch its HomePod before the end of this year.
Meanwhile, companies like Samsung and Facebook are rumoured to be developing smart speakers of their own.
Smart speaker sales are expected to hit $3.5 billion by 2021 according to Gartner.
Sonos announced earlier in the year that it would be adding Alexa to its speakers via a software update. It has not yet released this update or set a date for when it will be released
