
Ikea's latest speaker lamp ditches Sonos for Spotify and inexpensive Bluetooth
'Our aim is to make sound accessible, functional, and enjoyable — without adding complexity,' said Granath, Ikea Range Manager for lighting and home electronics. 'That's what sets us apart, and that's what we'll keep building on as we shape the next chapter of what sound can be in the home.'
The revised strategy was announced alongside Ikea's plan to go all in on the Matter smart home protocol, accompanied by a new Blomprakt Bluetooth speaker with an integrated LED light bulb. The speaker lamp is scheduled to arrive on Big Blue shelves in October for a price that should be less than €100 (under $120). It joins the colorful $49.99 Nattbad Bluetooth speaker announced last month. Both cost much less than the Ikea x Sonos offerings: the $179.99 Symfonisk Wi-Fi bookshelf speaker currently sells for almost double the price it debuted at in 2019, while the speaker lamps start at $269.99.
Both of the new Bluetooth speakers feature the dedicated Spotify Tap button that first appeared on Ikea's $89.99 Vappeby outdoor Bluetooth speaker lamp back in 2022 (and is still available to buy). Give that button a press to start playing Spotify from where you left off, or press it again to play another track tailored to your interests. Ikea tells me that the feature requires a Spotify account, but it doesn't require a paid subscription tier.
Ikea's new speakers also leverage Bluetooth 5.3 to offer a multi-speaker setup. That means you can drop a few speakers into a room and quickly pair them together with a button tap. The sound will be mono, without stereo separation or multi-channel home theater audio, but it'll surely fill the room. The speakers can also be shared between two simultaneously connected devices.
When asked about the dissolution of the Sonos partnership announced in May, Granath told The Verge that it ended without drama. 'We had achieved what we set out to do and we both had our strategies and plans going forward. It wasn't more dramatic than that.' But reading between the lines, the price and comparable complexity of those Symfonisk products seemed to factor into the decision.
'When you have to sell a speaker for over €200, you exclude a lot of people,' said Granath. 'In January, we'll probably have up to ten speakers coming in one go.' At least some of those will the be the result of an ongoing partnership with designer Tekla Evelina Severin — aka, Teklan. All the new Bluetooth speakers are expected to cost less than €100, according to Granath, in support of Ikea's strategy to serve 'the many people.'
Importantly, Ikea says it learned a lot from its eight-year Sonos partnership, including lessons in product development and supply chain. Now Granath says he's focused on applying those lessons to reach more people with its own-branded speakers, make them easier to use and more affordable, and 'trying a lot of new ways of fitting into home furnishing.'
To illustrate that point, Granath showed The Verge an unannounced battery-powered Bluetooth speaker with a flat circular design. It hovers on a stand above a small tray that looks like it could be used for keys, wallet, and a phone, or even some mixed nuts if you prefer. It's these types of dual-use smart home integrations — speakers inside lamps and shelves, air purifiers and wireless chargers built into tables — that I particularly enjoy from Ikea.
For the many people willing to pay for higher-quality whole-home audio over Wi-Fi... well, you'll just have to wait. Ikea is part of the Connectivity Standards Alliance working group that is trying to standardize speakers as a product type within Matter, but that's still a long ways off.
When pressed on whether Ikea is doing any in-house R&D on the emerging LegatoXP speaker platform, Granath responded with a smile, 'Let me pass on that.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
US, China to launch new talks on tariff truce extension, easing path for Trump-Xi meeting
By David Lawder STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Top U.S. and Chinese economic officials will resume talks in Stockholm on Monday to try to tackle longstanding economic disputes at the centre of a trade war between the world's top two economies, aiming to extend a truce by three months and keeping sharply higher tariffs at bay. China is facing an August 12 deadline to reach a durable tariff agreement with President Donald Trump's administration, after Beijing and Washington reached preliminary deals in May and June to end weeks of escalating tit-for-tat tariffs and a cut-off of rare earth minerals. Without an agreement, global supply chains could face renewed turmoil from U.S. duties snapping back to triple-digit levels that would amount to a bilateral trade embargo. The Stockholm talks come hot on the heels of Trump's biggest trade deal yet with the European Union on Sunday for a 15% tariff on most EU goods exports to the U.S., including autos. The bloc will also buy $750 billion worth of American energy and make $600 billion worth of U.S. investments in coming years. No similar breakthrough is expected in the U.S.-China talks but trade analysts said that another 90-day extension of a tariff and export control truce struck in mid-May was likely. An extension of that length would prevent further escalation and facilitate planning for a potential meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in late October or early November. A U.S. Treasury spokesperson declined comment on a South China Morning Post report quoting unnamed sources as saying the two sides would refrain from introducing new tariffs or other steps that could escalate the trade war for another 90 days. Trump's administration is poised to impose new sectoral tariffs that will impact China within weeks, including on semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, ship-to-shore cranes and other products. "We're very close to a deal with China. We really sort of made a deal with China, but we'll see how that goes," Trump told reporters on Sunday before European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen struck their tariff deal. DEEPER ISSUES Previous U.S.-China trade talks in Geneva and London in May and June focused on bringing U.S. and Chinese retaliatory tariffs down from triple-digit levels and restoring the flow of rare earth minerals halted by China and Nvidia's H20 AI chips and other goods halted by the United States. So far, the talks have not delved into broader economic issues. They include U.S. complaints that China's state-led, export-driven model is flooding world markets with cheap goods, and Beijing's complaints that U.S. national security export controls on tech goods seek to stunt Chinese growth. "Geneva and London were really just about trying to get the relationship back on track so that they could, at some point, actually negotiate about the issues which animate the disagreement between the countries in the first place," said Scott Kennedy, a China economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "I'd be surprised if there is an early harvest on some of these things but an extension of the ceasefire for another 90 days seems to be the most likely outcome," Kennedy said. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has already flagged a deadline extension and has said he wants China to rebalance its economy away from exports to more domestic consumption -- a decades-long goal for U.S. policymakers. Analysts say the U.S.-China negotiations are far more complex than those with other Asian countries and will require more time. China's grip on the global market for rare earth minerals and magnets, used in everything from military hardware to car windshield wiper motors, has proved to be an effective leverage point on U.S. industries. TRUMP-XI MEETING? In the background of the talks is speculation about a possible meeting between Trump and Xi in late October. Trump has said he will decide soon on a landmark trip to China, and a new flare-up of tariffs and export controls would likely derail planning. Sun Chenghao, a fellow at Tsinghua University's Center for International Security and Strategy in Beijing, said that a Trump-Xi summit would be an opportunity for the U.S. to lower the 20% tariffs on Chinese goods related to fentanyl. In exchange, he said the Chinese side could make good on its 2020 pledge to increase purchases of U.S. farm products and other goods. "The future prospect of the heads of state summit is very beneficial to the negotiations because everyone wants to reach an agreement or pave the way in advance," Sun said. Still, China will likely request a reduction of multi-layered U.S. tariffs totaling 55% on most goods and further easing of U.S. high-tech export controls, analysts said. Beijing has argued that such purchases would help reduce the U.S. trade deficit with China, which reached $295.5 billion in 2024. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
England started the Euros being doubted - but showed resolve, resilience and relentlessness
Being with the Lionesses before they boarded their bus - for a late night of partying - was to intrude in celebrations but glimpse into the mindset of champions.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Jennifer Lopez laughs off wardrobe malfunction after losing her skirt onstage: 'I'm glad I had underwear on'
The pop star is currently headlining her Up All Night Tour. Jennifer Lopez handled a wardrobe malfunction mid-concert like a pro after her shimmering gold skirt ended up "On the Floor." While ringing in her 56th birthday at a concert stop in Warsaw, Poland, on July 24, Jenny from the block let out a yelp after her skirt dropped to the floor during a crowd rendition of "Happy Birthday." Promptly after the mishap, the pop star smiled and strutted around the stage. "I'm out here in my underwear," she said. Lopez then tossed the skirt into the audience. "I'm glad I had underwear on," she said at the end of the song. "I don't usually wear underwear." Then, later, to the fan who caught the garment: "Yes! You can keep it. You can have it. I don't want it back." The moment unfolds around the two minute mark of the video above. The show, held at PGE Narodow, is part of Lopez's ongoing Up All Night Live Tour, launched on July 8 in Spain, and her first in six years. She originally planned to return to the stage with the This Is Me ... Live Tour last summer, but canceled the run amid reports of low ticket sales and separation from Ben Affleck. The former couple's divorce was finalized earlier this year. "I was so devastated to let anybody down, but I just needed to be with my kids and myself and really dig down deep into things that were happening in my life," she told Nikki Glaser for Interview Magazine. "And I'm glad I did, because it was a really difficult time for me. Probably the hardest time of my life, but it was also the best time because I got to do that work on myself.""I have the most understanding and loving fans in the world," Lopez added. "Some fan bases can be spicy. Mine are just a bunch of lovers." The 19-date Up All Night Tour will span Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia, concluding Aug. 10 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Lopez is also set to return to the big screen with Bill Condon's Kiss of the Spider Woman, in theaters Oct. 10. The musical drama, about two prisoners who form an unlikely bond over a Hollywood musical, is based on the novel by Manuel Puig and has notably also been adapted into a 1985 film with William Hurt and a 1993 Broadway musical. Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly Solve the daily Crossword