In late 2017, Sonos, coupled sound titans, collaborated with Swedish piece of furniture Ikea, and two years later, the pair released a series of Symphonic speakers that were also household items.
So far, this series has included the bookshelf speaker and the lamp speaker, but according to a tease from Instagram Stories, an FCC submission and knowledge of The Verge, more are on the way soon.
If you make the FCC submission specifically, it looks like the Symphonic Loudspeaker will get a refresh, with the newer model about the same price ($ 179 / £ 150 / AU $ 269).
Interestingly, the other item that Sonos and Ikea plan to bring to the Symphonic series will take the form of “a wall piece with an integrated speaker”, if The Verge’s sources are accurate.
As there has not yet been an official announcement, details of both products are currently light on the ground (beyond the knowledge that a cable has to run all the way to the wall art), we have to wait for the companies to unveil the products to learn more.
My art or yours?
The success or failure of the wall art speaker is likely to depend on whether the product presents a particular range of images or not, or whether it enables customers to compose or frame their own photos.
At the moment, Ikea does offer a series of prints to decorate the house, so it is certainly possible that the new Symfonisk will follow this model, but we hope that it also offers the option of a ‘blank canvas’.
Although a number of technology products offer a choice of colors to add a touch of personalization and flair, these items mostly focus on practical applications like wall art, and their aesthetic value is a bonus.
The purpose of wall art is probably pure aesthetically, and thus this speaker will have to cater to these needs in a much more versatile way than the other Symphonic products. After all, it does not offer the same utility as the lamp or bookshelf speakers (which, as you may have guessed, are double as bookshelves or lamps, respectively).
The wall art speaker is already quite a niche product, so its success can be limited by further limiting the market by avoiding adaptability.