A new fully-portable Sonos speaker is on its way, according to Chris Welch at The Verge. Citing sources who are apparently very familiar with Sonos’ plans — along with a product photo that leaves little to the imagination — the new speaker is the second-generation Move, reportedly called the Sonos Move 2. Welch, whose previous Sonos leaks have proven to be very accurate, claims the Move 2 will make its official debut in September.
From the outside, other than the new olive color, the speaker in the photo looks nearly identical to the existing Sonos Move. The beefy portable hasn’t been put on much of a diet — Welch says that the Move 2 will clock in at just over six pounds, which is roughly what the Move weighs. However, under that familiar body lies some important changes.
The biggest of these is that the new speaker will be a stereo unit, thanks to a set of angled tweeters. This is the same approach that Sonos used in bringing stereo sound to the Sonos Era 100, which has replaced the mono-only Sonos One. You’ll still be able to stereo-pair two Sonos Move 2s for even more expansive sound, but now a single Move 2 will give much a much wider soundstage than the original Move.
Stereo isn’t the only change that has been inspired by Sonos’ most recent speakers. The Move 2 also gets revised touch controls with a dedicated volume slider and a USB-C port on the rear panel that can do more than simply charge the speaker. You can expect to be able to attach an adapter, as you can on the Era 100 and Era 300, which will (depending on the type) give you an analog line-in, and reportedly, you’ll also be able to charge your other devices from the port using the speaker’s internal battery.
Speaking of the battery, this too has been improved — dramatically so if The Verge’s report is accurate — with up to 24 hours of playback time. The first-gen Move can only last about 10 hours. The included wireless charging cradle has also been redesigned and is no longer hard-wired to its wall adapter.
All of these changes come at a bit of an increased cost. Welch says the Move 2 is expected to sell for $449 — $50 more than the first-gen Move.
As with the Era speakers, you can expect to use Sonos’ in-house voice assistant, or Amazon Alexa (when connected to Wi-Fi), but apparently Google Assistant is still AWOL.
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