- A reliable leaker says a Sonos Era 100 SL is coming
- It would be a cheaper version of the Sonos Era 100 speaker without microphones
- It follows the recent leak of a new Sonos portable speaker and app update
It appears that Sonos is planning to launch a new Sonos Era 100 SL speaker, which would essentially be a cheaper version of the Sonos Era 100, ditching voice control to lower costs – at least based on previous Sonos ‘SL’ products, all of which have done exactly that.
The leak comes from noted tech leaker Evan Blass at X, with images of the bottom of the new speakers, in black and white, with the name clearly visible.
In addition to the recently leaked Sonos Play, the company is also set to release the so-called Sonos Era 100 SL pic.twitter.com/1llm7GxPdtMarch 2, 2026
With the promise of the SL offering an even cheaper option, I think this new model will probably be the standard wireless speaker. We recommended the JBL Authentics 200 over the Era 100 in our guide to the best wireless speakers, but this could tip the scales in Sonos’ favor.
What price should you expect for this? To be clear, it’s not like the Sonos Era 100 SL is likely to be half the price of the current model, but the Sonos One SL was $20 / £20 cheaper than the Sonos One, and the Sonos Roam SL was about the same difference from the Sonos Roam. So I’d expect the same here, with the Era 100 likely to launch at the same $199 / £179 / AU$389 price that the Sonos One SL launched for back in the day.
Bearing in mind that Sonos happily participates in Black Friday and other sales events, you could end up paying under $170 / £150 for this new speaker, and I think it will be wildly popular at that kind of price, even as a pair. Simple, beautiful, well-made, with great sound – this is the kind of thing that will put Sonos’ reputation back at the top of the pile.
In the past, the microphones and voice assistant functionality have been the only things Sonos has cut from the SL models, but it’s possible that they’ll choose to cut more here – for example, it would be a shame to lose the USB-C port that allows you to plug in a line-in adapter, but people might be happy to live with it for the sake of the savings.
Sonos is back in action
It’s been a busy week in the world of Sonos leaks. First was the news the company is planning another update to its app, including some quick-access music controls on iOS, which is something I’ve wanted for a while.
Then we saw clear leaks that the company plans to launch a new portable speaker midway between the Sonos Roam 2 and the Sonos Move 2 in terms of price and size. (Something we predicted in our roundup of what we hoped to see from Sonos, so kudos to my colleague James Davidson for pulling it off.)
Now we’ve also shown the Era 100 SL (pictured alongside more images of the Sonos Play portable speaker in that leak). We already knew that Sonos planned to “ramp up” its launches after releasing nothing in 2025, and it looks like it’s going to run out of the blocks with two early speakers, perhaps more to follow.
And of course you can also follow TechRadar on YouTube and TikTok for news, reviews, video unboxings, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp also.
