GoKawiilTL;DR IKEA just launched new Matter-compatible smart home devices, including a lamp, a smart plug, and an air quality monitor.
They should work with Google Home and other platforms, but ongoing Matter issues may impact reliability.
The retailer also released a $9.99 Bluetooth speaker that you can easily network throughout your home.
IKEA has been steadily building out its smart home lineup as a no-frills alternative to the usual ecosystem players. Its latest batch leans into that idea again, with new Matter-compatible lights and sensors that should play nicely with Google Home — at least in theory. It’s also launched a very cheap Bluetooth speaker that feels like it wandered in from a different product meeting.
As reported by 9to5Google, IKEA is officially launching several new Matter devices, including updated versions of its VARMBLIXT lamp, a GRILLPLATS smart plug, and an ALPSTUGA air quality monitor. The VARMBLIXT — a donut-shaped lamp we’ve already seen start appearing in US stores — supports full color controls and can be managed through IKEA’s app or other Matter platforms like Google Home. It also comes with a physical remote, which might turn out to be more useful than IKEA intended.
The smart plug is the cheapest new addition at $7.99, the air quality monitor is $29.99, and the lamp is $99.99, with a pendant version priced at $159.99. It’s all fairly accessible, and clearly aimed at people who want to dabble in smart home gear without spending a fortune.
The elephant in the room is that Matter, which is supposed to make all of this seamless, has been more than a little problematic of late. IKEA’s Matter devices have recently been caught up in wider issues with the platform. Examples include devices dropping off networks, refusing to pair properly, or behaving differently depending on which ecosystem you’re using. So these new products should work with Google Home and other Matter platforms. But “should” is doing a fair bit of work there. If you’re planning to build out a whole system around them today, it’s probably worth going in with realistic expectations and a bit of patience.
Alongside the smart gear is a bit of an outlier in the shape of IKEA’s new $9.99 Bluetooth speaker, called KALLSUP. It skips Matter entirely and keeps things simple, connecting over Bluetooth and supporting multi-speaker pairing. The appeal is pretty obvious — it’s cheap, cheerful, and easy to scatter around a room. The Verge has already tested it out and was fairly impressed given the price.
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