IKEA has become a bigger fan of USB-C accessories since the iPhone 15 finally adopted the standard last year. Now, the furniture giant has followed up its recent Sjöss USB-C charger with a new range of similarly affordable charging accessories.
As spotted by Notebookcheck, the range includes a mix of colorful, braided USB-C cables, plus a multi-socket extension cable. The latter, called Skotat, is currently only available in the EU, but IKEA confirmed to us that it’s coming to the UK in January. We’ve also asked if a US version is coming and will update this story when we hear back.
Hopefully, the Skotat will get a full worldwide launch, as it serves up three AC ports and two USB-C ports in a handy triangular, wedge design that has a lengthy 1.8m cable and can also be wall-mounted. It costs €24.99 in the EU (around $27) and will cost £22 when in goes on sale in the UK in January.
More widely available is the Rundhult, a braided USB-C to USB-C cable that’s designed to charge your laptop or tablet. It supports 100W of power and is 1.5m long, making it a good one for home workers. You can pick one up now in dark gray or black-and-white for $9.99 / £7 / €7.99. Currently, this isn’t in the UK online store, but IKEA tells us it is inside most physical stores and sales officially start in July.
Lastly, if you’re tired of drab USB-C cables, IKEA has also launched some cheery, colorful versions of its Lillhult cable for charging your mobile devices. These USB-C to USB-C leads have rubber heads to extra flexibility and come in green and orange-pink versions, alongside the more standard light grey.
The cables are 1.5m long and promise data transfer speeds of up to 480Mbps. They cost €5.99 / £4 (for both the USB-C to USB-C, and USB-C to USB-A versions) and €9.99 / £8 for the USB-C to Lightning model. Official sales in the UK again start in July, although you can find the Lillhult in most physical stores – and we’ve asked if they’re coming to the US, too. We’ll update this story when we hear back.
Making smart moves
Given the availability of very affordable USB-C accessories from the likes of Anker, it’s hard for IKEA to massively undercut its rivals for value.
But, like its bargain Sjöss wall chargers (which come in 1-port 30W and 45W 2-port versions), these IKEA cables and multi-socket extension cable are certainly competitively priced – and a good impulse buy option if you find yourself strolling through its stores’ dangerously tempting market halls.
IKEA is also dabbling with some slightly more advanced smart home tech than USB-C cables. We recently learned that it’s piloting a new smart home app in Sweden to help users keep an eye on your power consumption, although there’s no news on whether that will get a wider rollout.
A more concrete project are IKEA’s trio of smart home sensors, which are designed to help you detect issues like water leaks or motion in your house. Those are all available now and can connect to the company’s own Dirigera smart home hub, which still hasn’t been updated to support the Matter standard.
Still, IKEA has promised that it’s still committed to the Matter standard, and seemingly has plans to continue to flesh out its tech-themed and smart home offerings – which is fine by us.
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mark.wilson@futurenet.com (Mark Wilson)
