Sonos and Ikea are winding down their partnership on wireless speakers, according to a new report from The Verge. Current inventory of the Symfonisk lineup is “being phased out globally at all Ikea locations and no future devices are planned.” The report notes, however that existing products will continue to receive software updates. The news comes shortly before the one-year anniversary of Sonos’ now-infamous botched software redesign.
“Over the past eight years, we’ve had the pleasure of working closely with Ikea and are proud of what we’ve achieved,” spokesperson Taylor Higgins told The Verge in a statement. “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.”
The two companies announced Ikea’s Symfonisk line of lifestyle-oriented wireless speakers in 2019, starting with the Symfonisk Bookshelf Speaker and Symfonisk Table Lamp Speaker. The Bookshelf Speaker has been notable since its launch as the most affordable Sonos-compatible wireless speaker you could buy. The collection expanded to include the Picture Frame Speaker, which doubled as wall art, as well as a version of the Table Lamp Speaker that came with floor-standing legs. All of the Symfonisk speakers could be added to people’s existing Sonos systems or be used to create new Sonos systems, controlled by Sonos’ software.
For its part, Ikea sent me this statement via email: “Over the past eight years, we’ve had the pleasure of working closely with Sonos and are proud of what we’ve achieved. While we won’t be releasing any new products as partners, we’ll continue to support every existing Symfonisk product so customers can keep enjoying great sound in their homes for years to come. Supporting our existing products is our top priority. Customers who have one or more Symfonisk products at home will not experience any changes when the products stop selling. We will work together to maintain and support the products we’ve developed, including software updates and customer service, making sure that customers can still enjoy great sound in their homes with Symfonisk for a long time. The Symfonisk range will conclude sales in January 2026 or until the remaining inventory is sold out.”
I wasn’t wild about the Picture Frame Speaker, which had a very un-Sonos-like lacklustre audio quality, but the rest of the Symfonisk lineup was generally impressive for its clever merging of speaker and furniture, allowing the Ikea-driven designs to blend much more seamlessly with home decor than Sonos’ own lineup. If you’ve been thinking of buying a Symfonisk speaker, now seems like a good time to do so, before all of the inventory is gone.
Ikea kept things simple with Symfonisk. It never released a smart speaker model, and it shied away from features like spatial audio and auxiliary inputs. It did, however, find a way to integrate the Symfonisk speakers into its Tradfri-based smart home platform, and sold a companion remote that let you control volume and playback without needing your phone or the speakers’ onboard controls.
I’ve reached out to Sonos and Ikea to find out if Symfonisk-compatible accessories like wall mounts, art panels, and table lamp shades will remain available and if so, for how long.
It’s been a challenging period for Sonos. In addition to the ongoing work to finally address all remaining app problems, the company reportedly shelved plans for an upcoming streaming device, codenamed Pinewood.
