Update: The Sonos Arc Ultra is finally official! Read everything you need to know in that story…
It’s been a tumultuous few months for Sonos, all dating back to the redesigned Sonos app, which wasn’t ready for primetime. Ultimately, it overshadowed the launch of the anticipated Ace headphones, and the company has spent plenty of time apologizing, reorganizing priorities, and regaining customers' trust.
While the result was that hardware was going to be delayed and some launches pushed back, it seems that Sonos might still be readying at least one new product. Sonos’ Arc has been around for four years and is the brand's flagship soundbar, complete with 11 speakers inside.
Four years is a long time for any piece of kit, and we’ve heard rumors of the Sonos Arc Ultra, which would succeed the Arc. And now, thanks to a few quick screengrabs from Matthew Bolton, TechRadar’s Managing Editor, Entertainment, it seems that Best Buy might have created an Arc Ultra landing page a bit too early.
As shown above, we found the listing and corresponding descriptions from a seemingly crawled webpage for the Sonos Arc Ultra in Black and White via Best Buy. It reads, “Premium design worthy of your home. With its distinctive curved shape, low-profile design, and matte finish, Arc Ultra is thoughtfully crafted to look great in …”. The linked web pages have since been pulled, though.
Maybe more importantly, though, Best Buy also might have revealed the price at $999.00 USD, putting it $100 above the cost of the current Arc. Of course, we’ll need final confirmation from Sonos on the cost, but this squarely matches previous rumors, also pointing to just shy of a $1,000 USD price tag.
Further, via results on the desktop, we can also see some of the promised features, including Bluetooth connectivity alongside Wi-Fi and, like the original, a voice assistant built-in. The addition of Bluetooth has been rumored and lines up as the connectivity is found on the Sonos Ace, Move 2, and Roam 2. We even saw a preview image depicting two colors and a similar build. The Arc Ultra is expected to keep controls up-top and physical ports on the back as well.
The Dolby Atmos-capable soundbar is also expected to use a new speaker technology. Sonos acquired Mayht in 2022, and the technology brand created a speaker that can be smaller than most competitors but still deliver strong sound as it pushes sound out from both sides. Pulling and pushing at the same time could reduce vibrations, similar to Apple’s force-canceling speaker design in laptops, but also greatly increase the sound quality and overall loudness thanks to a reduction in size. The Arc was no slouch with 11 speakers inside, but the Arc Ultra could add plenty more.
Considering Best Buy already had these listings up and has since pulled them, it could be a sign that Sonos is getting ready to drop the successor to the Arc soundbar soon. Of course, this could also be a mistake on Best Buy’s part, but considering the previous looks, there’s a pretty good chance it shows that retail availability is incoming.
We’ve reached out to Sonos to ask about the apparent listings and we’ll update this post if and when the audio brand responds. In the meantime, check out everything we know about the rumored Sonos Arc Ultra here.
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