Two of Ikea’s most eye-catching lights are about to get smart | usagoldmines.com

Ikea made a splash three years ago when it joined forces with an award-winning designer for a striking line of decorative house lamps. At CES this week, Ikea is adding a new twist to those Varmblixt lights: smarts, complete with a dash of Matter. 

Slated to go on sale in April, the latest entries in the Varmblixt line will include smarter versions of the existing Varmblixt donut lamp and a pendant, and both will offer a full range of smart features along with Matter compatibility. 

The updated Varmblixt donut lamp looks just like it sounds: an oversize and illuminated donut-shaped light with a “soft, matte white glass surface.”  

The donut light ($99.99) will come with a dozen preset colors chosen by Sabine Marcelis, the Dutch artist and designer who collaborated with Ikea on the original Varmblixt line.

Ikea

You can cycle through the colors—which range from white and amber to warm red, soft pink, lavender, turquoise, and yellow—using the included Bilresa remote, with the colors transitioning smoothly from one to the other. 

The Varmblixt donut lamp (or, as it’s officially called, the Table and Wall Lamp) also works with the Ikea Home Smart app, which lets you access more than 40 colors along with light intensity and dimming controls. 

Next comes the smart version of the Varmblixt pendant lamp, a striking illuminated tube that looks like it’s been twisted into a “u” shape. 

Like its sibling the donut, the Varmblixt pendant ($149.99) comes with the Bilresa remote and can by cycled from a “crisp, cool daylight” to a “warm, candle-like” yellow, Ikea says. 

Ikea

Besides working with the Ikea app, both the Varmblixt donut and pendant lamp will work with Matter, the new smart home protocol that acts as the glue between Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, and other Matter-compatible platforms. 

That means you could incorporate both of the new Varmblixt lights into any of those big smart ecosystems, perfect for adding them to existing smart light groups or smart home automations. You’d also be able to control the lights with Alexa, Gemini, and Siri voice commands. 

The upcoming Varmblixt lights are set to go on sale in April, according to Ikea.

Ikea’s announcement of the Matter-enabled Varmblixt lights comes just a couple of months after Ikea unleased more than 20 Matter products, including Matter-compatible smart bulbs, sensors, and remotes. 

Ikea went all-in with Matter last summer by releasing a software update that turned Ikea’s Dirigera smart hub into a Thread border router, meaning it can both discover and take charge of Thread-enabled Matter devices. 

Updated shortly after publication with U.S. pricing details.