Sonos delays Sub Mini release date due to disappointing results
On August 10, the American company specializing in the marketing of wireless hifi systems presented the results for the third quarter of its 2022 fiscal year. These turned out to be disappointing compared to the projections made previously by the company.
This forced Sonos to temporarily suspend the process of launching its next subwoofer, which was unsurprisingly to be the Sub Mini. The latter is a subwoofer that should be a more affordable alternative to the Sonos Sub sold around 840 euros.
A launch postponed to the first quarter of 2023
During Sonos’ earnings conference call, CEO Patrick Spence told investors that the release of one of its products has been delayed until the first fiscal quarter of 2023. which was confirmed by Erin Pategas, the spokesperson for Sonos.
The spokesperson’s confirmation came via an email sent to The Verge. In said e-mail message, one can read: “I can confirm that we have decided to push back the launch of a product planned from the fourth quarter 22 to the first quarter 23”.
Sonos has not explicitly stated that the launch in question is Sub Mini. However, everything indicates that this is indeed Sonos’ new subwoofer. This appeared in June in the FCC databases. If the company had followed the normal process then the Sub Mini would be sold in the fourth quarter of 2022 at an amount around 600 euros according to the various estimates made by observers.
We will therefore have to wait until next year to have it. Despite everything, Sonos, through the voice of its CEO, wishes to reassure its customers by indicating that it wants to continue to launch two products each year.
Sonos’ results haven’t been up to par and aren’t likely to improve anytime soon
The most obvious conclusion one can draw is that the third quarter of 2022 hasn’t been very successful for Sonos. The company, which must now face accusations of patent theft from Google, finds itself with results that are well below its forecasts.
To explain this bad patch, the CEO mentioned the drop in consumption caused by the rise in inflation. To this effect, he said this in an earnings statement: “We have seen the macroeconomic environment become much more challenging for us from June onwards, with the appreciation of the dollar and high inflation having a negative impact on the consumer sentiment around the world, especially in the categories in which we play”.
In the words of Brittany Bagley, Sonos’ outgoing chief financial officer, the fourth quarter isn’t looking too good either. The company is mainly emphasizing the weak demand for its Sonos Ray bar to explain its losses. She also justified this bad pass by a slowdown in television sales.
Thankfully, all is not bleak in Sonos’ projections. Despite a low sales volume, Sonos believes that the Ray should rebound sooner or later due to the positive reviews the device has received and its very attractive price.
Source: The Verge
