Smart speaker maker Sonos announced Tuesday that it is phasing out development for several of its oldest products. The company said in a blog post that it will no longer update software or add new features for original Zone Players, Connect, Connect:Amp, first-generation Play:5, CR200, and Bridge devices beginning in May.
Sonos pioneered the smart speaker market, launching its first products in 2005 at the Consumer Electronics Show. The company’s focus has been on whole-house audio streaming over WiFi via speakers connected using Sonos’ own encrypted peer-to-peer network. In 2015 Sonos integrated Apple Music support. In 2017 the company collaborated with Ikea to build its smart speaker technology into devices sold in Ikea showrooms as well. Then in 2018 Sonos offered Apple AirPlay 2 support in select devices as well.
In announcing the end of life for the affected products, Sonos said that those devices “have been stretched to their technical limits in terms of memory and processing power.” As a result, they have been relegated to “legacy” status by Sonos. They will continue to operate, but they will not receive any more software updates and no new features will be exposed, according to the company.
The company is encouraging customers to “trade up” to newer Sonos products. Customers who do will receive a 30% credit for each legacy product they trade up. Sonos then bricks those traded-up products in “Recycle Mode” to prevent them from being resold to unsuspecting customers, and encourages owners to bring them to a recycling center or send them back to Sonos for recycling.
Are you a Sonos device user affected by this decision? How do you feel about the trade up program? Will you continue to use your devices? Sound off in the comments.