Ikea is launching new smart home products, and they're designed to be extra easy to use
The Swedish furniture manufacturer and retailer announced Wednesday that it will release 20 smart home products in January 2026 that it calls its 'biggest step' yet to make smart home technology open, simple, and affordable. Ikea has released smart light bulbs and systems before, and previously partnered with Sonos for speakers, but this relaunched smart home line was designed to be universal.
'Our goal is to make the smart home easy to use, easy to understand, and within reach for the many,' Ikea of Sweden's range manager David Granath said in a statement.
The heart of Ikea's smart home system will be Dirigera, a hub that's compatible with the smart home technical standard Matter. That means Ikea's line will work with smart home devices across different brands. It's a system built for versatility and designed specifically to lower the threshold for consumers to get started on their own smart home systems.
Ikea didn't reveal much about the products other than to say the goal was not to add technology for technology's own sake. Instead, Ikea wants to build a smarter smart home that's supportive and adaptable. Forthcoming products will replace the functions of existing products, Granath confirmed to The Verge, and a pair of Bluetooth speakers being released ahead of the wider January launch act as a preview.
Nattbad, coming out this month, was designed to look like a vintage speaker in yellow, pink, or black, while Blomprakt, a table speaker-lamp that will come in beige, black, and blue, will be released in October. Both are minimal but attractive and signal Ikea's general direction for home tech design.
'We understand how people want to furnish with sound in a way that adds atmosphere and feels natural in the home,' Granath says. 'Our aim is to make sound accessible, functional, and enjoyable without adding complexity.'
This is smart home tech made easy. And if Ikea can deliver for consumers like it thinks it can, more connected homes could soon be coming to the masses—and the retailer will mark its territory in the smart home space.
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