It seems that Ikea inadvertently confirmed the existence of a new Sonos-powered smart speaker for the Symfonisk product line. A product page on the company’s website, spotted by The Verge on June 1, detailed a Symfonisk “picture frame with Wi-Fi speaker,” priced at $199. The product page has since been removed.
“You can choose to hang it on its own on the wall as an eye-catcher, match it with your other pictures on a wall, place it on the floor, or lean it against a wall,” Ikea’s site reportedly said. The term “picture frame” may be too literal — it doesn’t look like people will be able to put any art they like on the speaker’s front, but there will likely be a choice of decor options created in an acoustically transparent fabric.
The product page confirmed that the speaker will have AirPlay 2 — something Sonos has added to all of its new products since the Sonos One smart speaker debuted. As with other Sonos products, you’ll be able to stereo-pair the picture frame speaker with a second picture frame speaker.
What we’re still uncertain about is how this decor-friendly speaker will be powered. Having a power cord trailing down your wall from the speaker isn’t exactly a look most people will be eager to add to their homes.
We’d previously heard rumblings of a possible wall-mounted Symfonisk speaker in April 2021, when two Federal Communications Commission (FCC) filings also unearthed by The Verge, that appeared to indicate Ikea was working on such an idea. Now, it looks like the only question is when will Ikea officially announce the product.
In April, Digital Trends reached out to Sonos for confirmation, but we were simply told, “The partnership [with Ikea] 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.”
A wireless speaker disguised as wall art wouldn’t be out of character for Ikea. Not only has it hidden a speaker inside a lamp (and a bookshelf), but it also has a line of Bluetooth speakers known as Eneby that come in 8-inch by 8-inch and 12-inch by 12-inch sizes that are designed to integrate seamlessly into the company’s many shelving units.
Speaking of speakers hidden inside lamps, it’s also expected that Ikea will soon release an update to the Symfonisk Table Lamp. The existing model embeds a Sonos Play:1-caliber speaker inside a lamp. Given Ikea’s commitment to smart home products like its line of smart blinds and smart light bulbs, it wouldn’t surprise us to see a new version that embeds the Sonos One — in other words, adding smart-speaker capabilities, with your choice of Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.
It has been almost two years since Sonos and Ikea debuted their partnership in the form of the Symfonisk line of wireless speakers. The $129 Symfonisk Bookshelf Speaker remains the most affordable Sonos speaker.
