The consumer tech price rise has claimed another device, the extremely versatile IKEA Dirigera Matter smart home hub, which by coincidence has just had a new update rolled out, offering new features.
“£10 more than I purchased a month ago”
Following reports of a price rise in the US, the Matter and Thread equipped hub is getting a price rise in the EU and the UK.
DIRIGERA
Matter Alpha spotted the price rise via the Tradfri subreddit, a discussion subforum dedicated to IKEA’s smart home platform. (Tradfri is the name assigned to IKEA’s pre-Dirigera smart home hub.)
The original poster stated: “Looks like ikea’s Dirigera hub has now £70 😳. That’s £10 more than I purchased a month ago.” This was followed by a price update from within the European Union:
“In Spain was 60€ and is now 80€, quite a steep increase.”
It isn’t clear why the UK price is £10 more, but the EU (Spain) price has rocketed by 20€. While there isn’t exact parity between the currencies, their differences (1.15€ to £1, or in US terms, $1 is 0.85€) aren’t great enough for the price to be as high as that.
Price rise, wonder why?
The Dirigera is not alone in experiencing a price rise.
RAM is in high demand, and prices have been inflated by client side AI, server side AI, tariffs, and shipping concerns. The age of affordable tech seems to have ended, with geopolitical frictions and the development of generative artificial intelligence services, agents, and chatbots contributing to faster RAM modules with greater capacity.
Home Assistant Green
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Other component prices have also spiked, and we recently learned of the new higher price for the Home Assistant Green. This means tech is more expensive, and this is having a direct impact on smart homes.
When it comes to IKEA, there is the advantage of a lot of devices – lamps, bulbs, sensors, smart plugs, smart switches, and even air purifiers – all under one roof. The And despite the price rise, the IKEA Dirigera remains the most affordable Matter smart home hub on the market.
What’s new in the Dirigera?
Meanwhile, IKEA has rolling out firmware revision 2.934.5, which has a primary purpose of fixing an issue with Thread IPv6 routing. So, if you have had issues with a smart home network of multiple Thread border routers or multiple controllers, check if this has been fixed.
Dirigera firmware updates typically rollout automatically, and you can check if your device is updated via the app. Open the Settings screen, then Our home, tap Hub and app version, then Read release notes.
This is just the latest monthly update from IKEA’s smart home team, which issues new features and bug fixes on a reliably regular basis.
The price rises might not be welcome, but at least the hardware is well-supported by the manufacturer.
