Sonos and IKEA Break Up

Sonos and IKEA have quietly ended their partnership and will not release any new smart speakers together through the retailer.

“Over the past eight years, we’ve had the pleasure of working closely with IKEA and are proud of what we’ve achieved,” a Sonos statement notes. “Although our work together has largely wound down and we won’t be releasing new products as partners, we’ll continue to support every existing Symfonisk product, so customers can keep enjoying great sound in their homes for many years to come.”

IKEA announced its first Symfonisk-branded and Sonos-compatible smart home devices in April 2019, starting with a bookshelf-style smart speaker and a table lamp with a speaker built-in. The devices were cheaper than similarly sized Sonos speakers and more versatile. (We still use two Symfonisk Bookshelf Speakers in our kitchen, and they look and work great.) The Symfonisk line later expanded with a picture frame smart speaker, and IKEA separately expanded into other smart home devices categories on its own.

It’s not clear what led to the end of this partnership, but Sonos has, of course, endured a terrible year thanks to its decision to replace its mobile app with an even more hobbled version so it could expand into headphones. That said, there hasn’t been a new Symfonisk product in over two years, so it’s possible this thing was winding down regardless.

You can still find all the Symfonisk-branded smart speakers at IKEA, and I assume there will be a fire sale soon to clear out the remaining inventory. I still think these products are cool, and I really like how the bookshelf speakers can be mounted as an actual shelf, either solo or with a separate additional shelf.