The Sonos Era 100 and Ray’s new lower price are a welcome move from a company that wants to win your love back

• Sonos Era 100 is now $199 / £199 / AU$319
• Sonos Ray is now $199 / £199 / AU$349
• Retailers may discount even further

If I were in charge of Sonos, my earworm would be Black Eyed Peas' Where Is The Love? – because since the botched app update in 2024, there have been many cases of users hurtin' and users cryin'. But now the firm has embarked on a new strategy to win back audio fans' love: it's seriously cutting the price of some of its key products.

Sonos has permanently cut the price of two of its key speakers, the Sonos Era 100 smart speaker and the Sonos Ray soundbar.

These are significant cuts: the Era 100 is down $50 from $249 to $199 (£199 / AU$319). And the Ray is down even more, from $279 to $199 (£199 / AU$349).

These aren't the cheapest prices we've ever seen for these Sonos products. But this is a permanent price reduction, not a promotional discount or retailer loss leader.

Opinion: a sound strategy for Sonos

There's no doubt that the Sonos app fiasco did a lot of damage to the brand. But Sonos has made good on its promises to keep updating the app, and while that's still ongoing, the app is in much better shape now.

The app problems seem to have cost Sonos a lot of sales as well as reputation, and the previously loyal customers who've vowed to ditch the brand altogether may not be coming back. And that means Sonos needs to persuade new people to buy into its ecosystem.

For years, Sonos has positioned itself as the Apple of audio, a premium brand offering a premium experience at not too premium prices. The app problems have made that a much harder sell, and until the app disaster is a distant memory – as it eventually will be; who thinks about Apple's "antennagate" when considering an iPhone? – one of the best tools in Sonos's toolbox is price.

Even before the app problems we felt that these two products were a little overpriced. In our Sonos Era 100 review, we said that the price was pushing it "closer to high-end speakers", where there's an expectation of excellence. Similarly, we felt that the Sonos Ray was "middle of the pack for value". At these newly reduced prices, both products are much more compelling.

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