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 equally affordable charging accessories.
As discovered by Notebookcheck, the range includes a mix of colorful braided USB-C cables, plus a multi-plug extension cable. The latter, called Skotat, is currently only available in the EU, but IKEA confirmed to us that it will arrive in the UK in January. We also asked if there will be a US version and will update this story when we hear back.
Hopefully the Skotat will have a full global launch as it offers three AC ports and two USB-C ports in a handy triangular wedge design that has a long 1.8m cable and can also be wall-mounted. It costs €24.99 in the EU (around $27) and will cost £22 when it goes on sale in the UK in January.
More available is the Rundhult, a braided USB-C to USB-C cable designed to charge your laptop or tablet. It supports 100 W of power and is 1.5 m long, making it a good model for home workers. You can get one now in dark gray or black and white for $9.99 / £7 / €7.99. This isn't currently in the UK online store, but IKEA tells us it's inside most brick-and-mortar stores and sales officially start in July.
Finally, if you're tired of monotonous USB-C cables, IKEA has also released some cheerful and colorful versions of its Lillhult cable for charging your mobile devices. These USB-C to USB-C cables have rubber heads for added flexibility and come in green and orange-pink versions, along with the more standard light gray.
The cables are 1.5m long and promise data transfer speeds of up to 480Mbps. They cost €5.99/£4 (for USB-C to USB-C and USB-C to USB-A versions) and €9.99 / £8 for the USB-C to Lightning model. Official UK sales start again in July, although you can find Lillhult in most brick-and-mortar stores, and we're wondering if they'll be coming to the US as well. We'll update this story when we hear back.
Make smart moves
Given the availability of very affordable USB-C accessories from companies like Anker, it's difficult for IKEA to massively undercut its rivals.
But, like their cheap Sjöss wall chargers (which come in 1-port 30W and 45W 2-port versions), these IKEA cables and multi-plug extension cord are certainly competitively priced, and are a A good impulse purchase option if you find yourself wandering through the dangerously tempting markets of its stores.
IKEA is also dabbling in smart home technology a little more advanced than USB-C cables. We recently learned that it is testing a new smart home app in Sweden to help users monitor their energy consumption, although there is no word on whether it will be rolled out more widely.
A more concrete project is IKEA's trio of smart home sensors, which are designed to help you detect problems like water leaks or movement in your home. All of them are available now and can connect to the company's Dirigera smart home hub, which has not yet been updated to support the Matter standard.
Still, IKEA has promised that it's still committed to the Matter standard and apparently plans to continue developing its smart home and tech-themed offerings, which is fine by us.
