Here’s what the upcoming Sonos headphones are likely to look like

There have long been rumors that Sonos is developing a premium set of noise-canceling headphones to connect to the company’s ecosystem of speakers and multi-room audio products. A new design patent filed with the German Patent and Trademark Office appears to offer a look at a more refined product than what we saw at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in September. This latest submission was registered in December and published in late January.

A striking difference is that the Sonos word mark is visible on this design; it was not present at the previous filing. (That said, it’s in broken lines, which does not count much in a design patent and which means the placement may change.) Another evolution is that the sticks coming out of the headband now go straight into the ear cups; there is no additional part that wraps around the back of each ear cup as we have seen before. Again, these are broken lines, but the solid lines also show an evolution of the design we’ve seen before. There are clear adjustments to the shape of the earlobe.

Little is known about the Sonos headphones, other than the fact that they are expected to cost the same as high-end competitors from Sony and Bose. It is believed that one of the main functions will be a seamless handover of music from the headphones to your Sonos sound system (and vice versa). But Sonos will likely have to do more than just lead consumers away from market leaders and newer entrants like the Apple AirPods Max.

An adapter for headphones is also part of recent Sonos filing at the German Patent and Commerce Office. It is not uncommon for expensive headphones to offer replaceable ear pads, so this is possibly what they are for. A USB-C port, various buttons and a 3.5mm cable entry are also outlined in the headphone drawings.

Sonos CEO Patrick Spence confirmed last week during the company’s earnings call that the next Sonos product will be announced in March. The device could eventually be a smaller portable speaker to complement the bulky Sonos Move. But during the call, Spence also confirmed that Sonos is still striving to release “at least” two new products each year. The headphones could finally be the second new offering for 2021 – if they accept that they will not make a surprise next month.