The eight-year partnership between audio company Sonos and furniture store IKEA has officially come to an end. This collaboration is what created the budget-friendly and high-quality Symfonisk line of speakers, but this product line will be discontinued.
IKEA will be removing all remaining Symfonisk stock from its stores worldwide. No new Symfonisk devices are being planned, and anyone who wants a device will likely run out of time to buy one soon. This is a huge split, as it seemed like the two companies really benefitted from this partnership.
The Symfonisk line included several kinds of speakers, such as lamp speakers, bookshelf speakers, and even picture frame speakers. These products were made to work smoothly with Sonos’s whole-home audio system, giving users an easy and budget-friendly way to start using Sonos. The cost of Symfonisk products was always lower than that of similar Sonos speakers, which meant more people could afford high-quality sound.
The bookshelf speaker, especially, received a lot of praise for its sound quality, competing with some of Sonos’s more expensive models when it first came out, though newer speakers have since outperformed it. Many people used Symfonisk speakers as surround sound speakers with Sonos soundbars, making them a popular and useful choice for home theater systems.
Spokesperson Taylor Higgins told The Verge, “Over the past eight years, we’ve had the pleasure of working closely with Ikea and are proud of what we’ve achieved. 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.”
While the reasons for ending the partnership have not been explained, the decision comes at a time of change for Sonos. Sonos also recently canceled its streaming box and permanently lowered the price of some speakers the company sells.
This may mean that Sonos doesn’t make as much in its partnership with IKEA as it would have liked right now, and it wants to make a full profit from its speakers. The recent tariffs may also be on the minds of executives in charge of Sonos’ strategy.
Despite these difficulties, current Symfonisk owners do not need to worry. Sonos has promised to keep providing software updates for all existing Symfonisk products. This is something the company likely has to do, as updates are expected when purchasing devices. Based on how long these kinds of updates normally last, I’d say that there are at most seven years of updates before they stop.
Sonos didn’t say whether IKEA would offer the remaining Symfonisk devices at a discount, but based on what we know, there likely won’t be one. IKEA is reportedly removing the products from its stores, but there was no mention of the company trying to sell the remaining products. So, I would advise caution if you were planning on getting them for a lower price than the regular price.
Source: The Verge
