Sonos has unveiled "Sonos 27," a major overhaul of the operating system underpinning its speakers, soundbars and headphones, alongside a redesigned app. It marks the company's most significant software update since its troubled 2024 app relaunch, which led to widespread bugs, the departure of chief executive Patrick Spence, and a year without new product releases in 2025. The headline addition is support for outside AI assistants and agents, including ChatGPT, allowing users to control their Sonos system through whichever AI tool they already use, via a public MCP (model context protocol) server.

Beyond AI integration, Sonos is introducing "Sonos Fabric," a feature letting compatible speakers automatically detect their position and adjust their role, such as portable speakers switching to surround-sound duty when placed near a soundbar, using high-frequency sound sensing. The Ace Ultra headphones, arriving 29 September, will gain an early-access "headphone linking" feature to receive audio directly from other system speakers. The redesigned app, with persistent navigation tabs and pinned favourites, becomes the default from 8 September, while Sonos is also previewing Custom Agents and an updated in-house voice assistant, though details remain limited.