Skip to main content

Ikea isn’t throwing shade with the delayed release of its smart blinds

Ikea is the go-to company for any adult who misses the thrill of assembling a Lego set, but the DIY-nature of the furniture comes with a major benefit: significantly lower prices for good-quality furniture. These affordable prices extend to Ikea’s Tradfri line of smart home products, which include smart lights, blinds, and plugs. The Swedish-based company announced that it has delayed the launch of its smart blinds until later in 2019 in order to improve the device’s firmware. The Kadrilj and Fyrtur shades were previously expected to release in the United States in April 2019.

Fortunately, good news comes with bad. Because of this delay, the “smart” part of the blinds will be available when they launch, rather than later in the year. Ikea originally planned to add voice control through the Tradfri smart home app (and the ability to control the Tradfri app through Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant) in a firmware update after the blinds launched.

Smart blinds tend to be treated as a luxury item due to their normally high price. In fact, many luxury apartments advertise smart blinds as one of the benefits of renting through them. The most exciting part of the Ikea blinds is their affordability. The Kadrilj shades are rumored to start between 99 euros and 139 euros, according to Reddit user /u/GogoharryNL. Although no price point has been confirmed, Ikea’s wireless Fyrtur blackout shades start at 110 euros for the cheapest option, placing present estimates squarely in the price range.

Ikea has not confirmed a new release date for the smart blinds since the delay, but the French Ikea Twitter page said that the Kadrilj and Fyrtur shades are expected to release in August. The available sizes have not yet been confirmed either, although the company offers five default sizing options: 100×195 cm, 120×195 cm, 140×195 cm, 60×195 cm, and 80×195 cm. If your windows are sized differently, you might need to request custom sizing.

Smart blinds are one of those smart home products you don’t want to purchase until you’ve settled into your forever home. Because windows tend to be shaped differently everywhere you go, the blinds will most likely not fit the windows in a new location—and who wants to shop for a home based solely on window size? With the lower prices, the Ikea smart blinds might make voice-controlled shades more accessible to everyone.

Editors' Recommendations

Patrick Hearn
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Patrick Hearn writes about smart home technology like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, smart light bulbs, and more. If it's a…
Nvidia isn’t just beating AMD in graphics, it’s still gaining ground. Here’s why
european retailers rtx 3080 317 percent above list geforce 3060 ti

Despite AMD's resurgence in the CPU market, Nvidia still holds all the cards when it comes to the discrete GPU market. That's according to a report from Jon Peddie Research that also showed an overall 3.4% increase in GPU shipments year- over-year.

From the second quarter of 2020 to the second quarter of 2021, AMD lost about 3% market share while Nvidia gained 3% during the same time period. Nvidia also continues to retain the overwhelming share of the discrete GPU market with 83% compared to AMD's 17%. As far as the entire GPU market, Intel technically has the overall GPU crown with a commanding 68% market share compared to Nvidia's 16% and AMD's 15%. This is simply due to most of Intel's CPUs containing an integrated GPU.

Read more
Ikea’s Starkvind does double duty as a smart air purifier and side table
Ikea Starkvind air purifier

Any home benefits from an air purifier. Cleaner air means better overall health, fewer allergies, and even better sleep. The downside is that air purifiers take up a significant amount of space, especially the larger air purifiers. Leave it to Ikea to solve that problem by combining an air purifier with a side table to address both form and function.

The Starkvind air purifier rests on the underside of a side table, away from the floor. It's designed to service rooms up to 65 feet in size. The Starkvind works on its own, but you can also connect it to the Tradfri gateway to schedule it through the Ikea Home app. It has five different fan speeds and an auto-mode that adjusts based on the number of particles in the air.

Read more
The best Ikea smart home gadgets
Ikea's Trådfri multi-colored bulbs.

Where can you go to find furniture, bedding, kitchenware, home decor, delectable Swedish meatballs, and melt-in-your-mouth cinnamon rolls? Yes, you can hop in the car and score a number of these items on a multi-store errand run, but there's only one emporium that houses everything mentioned under one roof (particularly the meatballs and cinnamon treats), and that's Ikea.

A go-to shopping center with a focus on modern yet minimalist design, Ikea features massive showrooms, bountiful inventory, and plenty of consumer tech as well. On par with Best Buy, Target, and other major brick-and-mortar competition, Ikea's shelves are stocked with several smart home products.

Read more