Last October we shared that we would be bringing Apple AirPlay 2 to Sonos. With AirPlay 2 you can play any sound from an iPhone or iPad, or Mac computer – including YouTube videos and Netflix movies – on Sonos speakers throughout the house. You will also be able to ask any Siri-enabled device to control Apple Music on Sonos speakers.

We’re making great progress with Apple getting this experience ready for this year. Today, we’re confirming that newer Sonos speakers like Play:5, Playbase and Sonos One will support AirPlay 2, as will future Sonos products. When you group one of these Airplay-enabled speakers with older Sonos devices, you can bring AirPlay capabilities to your entire Sonos system.

As a Sonos owners, you’ve have grown accustomed to these devices improving over time through software. As the hardware in newer products has advanced, we’re extremely proud to have introduced brand new services – like Audible and Spotify direct-control – to our entire line-up of speakers. Many of you have Sonos gear that’s over a decade old and is still getting better every day.

But – like with laptops and mobile phones – sophisticated new features sometimes require new hardware. For example, adding voice control to the Sonos system required us to build a microphone into Sonos One. Thanks to the way we’ve architected the system, adding just one Sonos device with voice capability means you can now control your whole system with voice, including those older devices that didn’t have a microphone built in when we first released them years ago.

AirPlay 2 works in a similar way. The computing platforms and software architecture in some of the older Sonos players like Play:3 and Play:1 simply don’t have the horsepower to support Air Play 2. The original Play:1, for example, has about 1/16th the processing power of its modern equivalent, the Sonos One. But by taking advantage of newer Sonos hardware, we’re able to make AirPlay 2 content available throughout the house on speakers old and new.

This kind of innovation is unique in the technology industry. Can you imagine being able to buy a new phone that brings new functionality to your old phones? Not all Sonos speakers can support all the latest features, but through the magic of software, thoughtful system design, and a general disdain for forced obsolesce, we’ll do our best to make sure your investment in Sonos truly gets richer and more immersive over time.

Want to learn more about AirPlay 2 on Sonos? Get the latest details and stay up-to-date about the launch.