Sonos and Ikea’s next collaboration could be a speaker that doubles as wall art
Ikea and Sonos earned a lot of praise when they revealed their first collaboration products in 2019 – a pair of Sonos connected speakers that doubled as Ikea table lamps and wall shelves.
Now, it looks like the two firms are planning to launch a new set of collaborative products. The first was teased earlier this week in an Instagram story by Sonos, which has since expired as it is over 24 hours old. The five-part story concluded with the Symfonisk name and the Sonos and Ikea logos. Given the current range is now a couple of years old, seeing an update in 2021 feels about right.
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Sonos acknowledged the teaser campaign and told Pocket-lint: "The partnership is stronger than ever and we're excited about the products we're working on together. We look forward to sharing more when the time is right."
It is likely that one of the new Sonos/Ikea products is detailed in this FCC filing by Ikea for a "wireless product" and granted just a few days ago, in the first week of April 2021.
Rumors of a new Ikea lamp with Sonos technology were corroborated by this Reddit post from early March, which claims: "The lamp speaker is switching to a modular solution with different lamp shade options, and the exchangeable lamp speaker covers are on the way out as well."
The Reddit user goes on to say: "There is a picture frame speaker coming, as well as a floor stand for the bookshelf speaker."
This information was then also corroborated by The Verge, which this week claimed Ikea and Sonos is working on a completely new product for 2021 that resembles a piece of wall art with an integrated speaker. Codenamed Titan, few details are known about the device for now, but the possibilities here are certainly interesting.
Owners of the Sonos Beam and Arc soundbars have been using the Symfonisk speakers at the rear of their room to create a surround sound system – but in this case, the rear speakers also double as shelves or table lamps. We like the idea of the rear speakers resembling wall art instead, helping to neatly integrate a sound system into the living room.
As manufacturers continue to make technology, and audio products in particular, softer and more aesthetically pleasing – Amazon and Google love putting fabric on their smart speakers – we can see Ikea and Sonos doing well here, especially if the technology (and power cable) are neatly hidden, yet powerful enough to substitute a pair of regular speakers. We hope to see more of this later in 2021.
IKEA Symfonisk Speaker - Black
