Sonos Reframes Its Business Around the Sonos System

Sonos CEO Tom Conrad says the company is moving beyond its identity as a hardware maker and returning to the idea that it builds one connected product: the Sonos system.

Conrad joined Sonos’s board in 2016 and became interim CEO in January 2025. Six months later, he took the permanent role. He stepped in after the company’s 2024 app redesign caused major problems, including a period when the system stopped working and the brand faced a serious crisis.

In an interview with The Verge, Conrad said Sonos is both a hardware and software company, and that getting either side wrong can have a major impact. He described the company’s work since the app crisis as involving changes to its structure, product lineup, and understanding of what its products are.

The company’s next major platform launch is called Sonos 27. Conrad described it as a new foundation intended to make every Sonos product work better as part of a system. The discussion also covered AI assistants working across the system, a possible mesh network of small computers built into speakers, smart home standards, and Sonos’s relationship with Google. Google’s Gemini assistant is not available on Sonos devices.