Sonos takes straight aim at Apple's HomePod with a killer 2-for-1 deal

The HomePod hasn’t even been released yet and Sonos is already launching a deal to directly compete with Apple’s new smarthome speaker. For the price of one HomePod ($349), Sonos is offering two Sonos One speakers.

The deal, announced via Twitter, is Sono’s preemptive move ahead of the HomePod’s launch on February 9, and it’s a smart one. Two is always better than one, although we say that with a big asterisk because we have yet to try out the HomePod. But for most customers shopping around for smarthome speakers in this price range, buying two Sonos One speakers is much more appealing than buying one HomePod for $349 or one Google Home Max for $399.

The Sonos One comes with Amazon Alexa built in, and Sonos is promising Google Assistant support later in 2018. Through voice controls, you can play Spotify, Amazon Music or Pandora as well as other smarthome appliances. And better yet for existing Apple customers, it also supports Apple Music through the Sonos app.

Sonos is launching the sale tomorrow for a limited time. The limited timeframe will likely only last through the HomePod’s launch in early February.

Apple for its part is not worried about the competition. Tim Cook is banking one the vertical integration Apple offers to deliver a better product.