IKEA Announces Symfonisk Picture Frame Smart Speaker

IKEA inadvertently leaked this product weeks ago, but its new Symfonisk Picture Frame smart speaker is now official, with availability on July 15.

“The space-saving picture frame speaker can hang on its own on the wall as an eye-catching art piece, be matched with other art on the wall, be placed on a shelf or on the floor, leaning against the wall,” IKEA’s Stjepan Begic says. “The interchangeable fronts make it easy to choose a style that suits your individual home. As part of the growing IKEA Home smart range, this new speaker contributes to our ambition to enable the many to enjoy a smarter everyday life.”

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The Symfonisk Picture Frame joins IKEA’s two other Sonos-compatible smart speakers, the Symfonisk Bookshelf Speaker and the Symfonisk Table Lamp; I own two of the former devices and reviewed them in early 2020 and found them to offer the same audio quality as the Sonos One. IKEA is rumored to be working on a new version of the Table Lamp, but that hasn’t been announced yet.

As with the previous Symfonisk products, the Picture Frame was created in collaboration with Sonos, and it works as a standalone speaker or in concert with other Sonos and Symfonisk speakers. It can be hung vertically or horizontally, or it can be placed on the floor or leaned against a wall.

The Symfonisk Picture Frame will be available in IKEA stores and on IKEA.com in Europe and North America on July 15, with other regions to follow. It will cost $199.

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Conversation 11 comments

  • navarac

    15 June, 2021 - 11:40 am

    <p>Not a good company – IKEA France just fined €1 for spying/snooping on staff. I don’t think I’d buy their stuff.</p>

    • StevenLayton

      15 June, 2021 - 11:43 am

      <p>As a moral stance, that’s fine. The risk of course is that most companies do morally dubious things, and your options of what you can buy may shrink to zero. </p>

      • navarac

        15 June, 2021 - 12:48 pm

        <p>Very true, however I have never set foot in an IKEA up to now, and have even more reason not to do so. (Just thought it was worth pointing out – it may affect one’s choice in these things).</p>

    • jchampeau

      Premium Member
      15 June, 2021 - 5:41 pm

      <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">€1 doesn’t seem like a very big fine.</span></p>

  • rm

    15 June, 2021 - 1:43 pm

    <p>So this could be a very low quality smart TV, likely a 1080 with low refresh rates with speakers built in and no video inputs. Just hypothesizing based on no specs and price. Still could be very good for what it is designed to do.</p>

  • lecter

    15 June, 2021 - 4:26 pm

    <p>I can’t imagine hanging this thing like in the picture, how would the cable not significantly detract from the look? On a shelf it makes a lot more sense…</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      16 June, 2021 - 9:50 am

      You could put the wire in the wall. People do that with flatscreen TVs.

      • ramblinggeek

        17 June, 2021 - 7:04 am

        <p>People can also do the same with CAT5 cables… oh wait ??</p>

  • peterh_oz

    15 June, 2021 - 7:05 pm

    <p>An art version of the Nixplay devices, but with Sonos compatibility.</p><p>Interesting that they chose an art cover, rather than a screen.</p>

  • sykeward

    15 June, 2021 - 10:00 pm

    <p>Say what you will about IKEA’s products, they do bring a sense of thoughtfulness to the design of things that’s generally lacking in the housewares market, at least in the US. I mean, you can use a Symfonisk bookshelf speaker as a<em> literal bookshelf</em>. I’m really interested in this wall art speaker, looking forward to the sound quality reviews.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      16 June, 2021 - 9:40 am

      Ditto. I like IKEA, and I like this partnership with Sonos.

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