Apple has added a few third-party products to its retail stores and website, most notably, several versions of Netgear’s Orbi mesh Wi-Fi routers. Meanwhile, IKEA + Sonos speakers with AirPlay 2 are now available from the Swedish retailer starting at $99.
Orbi and more arrive at Apple
After discontinuing its AirPort lineup in April last year, the only router offering Apple had remaining was the Linksys Velop mesh system. Apple first started selling the third-party router in January last year, before it had killed off its first-party AirPort products. Now, Apple has started selling Netgear’s Orbi mesh routers.
One advantage that Orbi has over some of the competition is more ethernet ports for hardwiring smart home hubs, devices like Apple TV, and more. The CBK40 for exmaple offers four ethernet ports on the main router and two on the secondary router.
Other new products that Apple has started offering include Belkin’s latest USB-C and Lightning cables (announced eariler this month) as well as a new 10-foot nylon Lightning cable from Mophie. There are also four LEGO Hidden Side sets that work with an iOS app to offer a fun AR experience starting from $30.
IKEA + Sonos speakers
IKEA has launched its new Symfonisk speakers made in collaboration with Sonos that offer AirPlay 2 functionality. There are two models, a bookshelf speaker and a table lamp/speaker combo. The Bookshelf speaker is priced at $99 with the lamp/speaker landing at $179.
Both new products feature AirPlay 2 support and are available at IKEA stores, but you’ll have to visit a physical location for now, as they aren’t available from IKEA.com for now.
From our previous Symfonisk coverage:
Bookshelf speaker:
- Two class-D digital amplifiers
- One tweeter
- One mid-woofer
- Ported Enclosure
- AirPlay 2
Lamp:
- Two class-D digital amplifiers
- One tweeter
- One mid-woofer
- Sealed Enclosure
- AirPlay 2
