Symfonisk becomes one of the first casualties of the trade war.
Sonos is ending its eight-year partnership with Ikea and phasing out the Symfonisk speaker line, with rising Trump-era tariffs playing a central role. The affordable, design-forward products that brought Sonos sound to a broader audience are disappearing from shelves worldwide, marking a quiet but a huge change in the company’s approach to accessible audio.
Why Sonos and Ikea Pulled the Plug on Symfonisk
Launched in 2019, Symfonisk was created to bring high-quality sound to more people. Ikea handled the form and function, while Sonos provided its signature wireless streaming platform. The result was a range of cleverly designed products, like a bookshelf speaker that doubled as furniture and a picture frame that played music while hanging on your wall.
Plus, they didn’t scream “tech gadget.” They just…fit.
For plenty of buyers, Symfonisk wasn’t about cutting corners. It was about expanding a Sonos setup without wrecking the vibe of a living room. But offering that kind of experience at Ikea prices required a pretty tight grip on costs. And that’s where things started to get tricky.
But, by May 2025, Sonos made official what had already been written on the wall. The Symfonisk line was done. Existing speakers would still get updates, but the collaboration had reached its final chapter.
Ikea didn’t push back. It simply said it would sell through whatever stock was left and move on.
For customers, it was the end of a rare thing in the audio world: a genuinely affordable, genuinely good smart speaker that didn’t look like tech clutter. Symfonisk products had become a go-to for buyers who wanted Sonos quality without the Sonos price tag.
The good news? If you already own one, you’re still covered. The speakers will keep working with the Sonos app and AirPlay 2.
But once those last boxes leave Ikea’s shelves, so does your shot at getting Sonos sound in a $100 lamp.
How Rising Tariffs Crushed Sonos’s Budget Audio Plans
The first big hit came during the original Trump administration, when tariffs of up to 25% were slapped on Chinese-made electronics, including the parts used in Symfonisk speakers. Sonos, trying to dodge the worst of it, shifted production to Malaysia and Vietnam.
For a while, that seemed to do the trick.
Then came 2025. New tariffs landed like a second punch, this time targeting those fallback countries.
Sonos didn’t have the cushion that tech giants enjoy. Its margins were already razor-thin, especially on hardware. Prices crept up—what started as a $99 bookshelf speaker climbed to $119 in the U.S., with steeper hikes elsewhere.
Ikea, not exactly a fan of passing on added costs, couldn’t escape either. Retail chief Jesper Brodin didn’t sugarcoat it. When tariffs go up, he said, customers end up footing the bill.
The Symfonisk model just couldn’t hold. What started as an effort to bring good sound to more people had been priced out of its own market.
How Sonos’s App Overhaul Added to Symfonisk’s Troubles
Tariffs may have strained the bottom line, but a software fiasco helped push the Symfonisk breakup over the edge.
In 2024, Sonos rolled out a completely overhauled version of its mobile app. It was meant to modernize the experience. Instead, it broke.
The backlash came fast. By early 2025, longtime CEO Patrick Spence had stepped down, and board member Tom Conrad was handed the reins as interim CEO. His mission wasn’t hard to spot: get the basics working again and rebuild some of the goodwill that had taken a hit.
That left Symfonisk out in the cold. It wasn’t the source of the problem, but in a post-crisis reset, a budget-friendly, co-branded speaker line built overseas just didn’t make the cut.