IKEA’s Varmblixt lamp gets smarter

The lamp that went viral for looking like a glowing doughnut now does more than sit there and look good. IKEA turned VARMBLIXT into a smart light in 2026, after the original 2023 version became one of the company’s most recognizable home products. (ikea.com) The original lamp was designed by Dutch designer Sabine Marcelis as part of IKEA’s VARMBLIXT collection. It used orange glass and a fixed warm glow, so the whole appeal was the shape and the soft light, not app control or automation. (ikea.com) The new version keeps the same ring shape and the same table-or-wall setup, but IKEA changed the body from orange glass to white glass. The color now comes from LEDs inside the lamp, which means the light can shift shades instead of staying locked to one amber tone. (mashable.com) That change is why reviewers keep talking about “glow” instead of raw brightness. Gizmodo called it a 12-inch-wide glass donut and said the lamp is “a little too dim,” which is a flaw for task lighting but exactly why it works as accent lighting on a shelf, nightstand, or wall. (gizmodo.com) IKEA also made it usable without forcing people into a full smart-home setup. The lamp ships pre-paired with a two-button remote, and that remote can turn it on, dim it, or switch colors with a double press. (ikea.com) If you do want phone control, the lamp uses Matter, which is the smart-home standard meant to let devices from different brands speak the same language. IKEA’s setup guide says it can join IKEA Home smart or another Matter system by scanning the Matter code during a 15-minute pairing window. (ikea.com) That matters because decorative lights usually trap you inside one company’s app. Reviewers say VARMBLIXT works across major ecosystems through Matter over Thread, so an Apple HomePod, Amazon Echo, Google Home setup, or another compatible hub can treat it like part of the rest of the house instead of a standalone novelty. (gizmodo.com) (9to5google.com) The tradeoff is that the smartest features still work best inside IKEA’s own setup or with the included remote. Gizmodo found the lamp’s color transitions were smooth with IKEA’s remote but more abrupt in third-party systems, which is the kind of small annoyance only accent-light obsessives will notice. (gizmodo.com) Price is part of why this landed so well. Multiple reviews say the smart VARMBLIXT launched at $99.99, which put app control, color changing, and Matter support at the same price as the non-smart version instead of adding a premium for the upgrade. (aol.com) (mashable.com) So the story here is not that IKEA invented a new category of lamp. It took a cult object people already wanted for its shape, kept the part that made it famous, and added just enough smart-home plumbing that reviewers at CNET are now calling it one of their favorite smart lights instead of just a pretty one. (cnet.com)