Philips Hue lights get bigger, brighter, and cheaper with a major product refresh

Smart lighting company Philips Hue debuted a bunch of new products this week at the IFA tech show in Berlin, Germany, and most of them are available now. The launch, which is the biggest in the company’s history, includes cheaper smart lights, a new bridge for its Zigbee ecosystem, a redesigned line of light strips, and new software features and connectivity capabilities. Hue also introduced its first video doorbell and an upgraded camera to its Hue Secure line.

Hue’s third-generation bridge arrives

The Hue Bridge Pro ($89.99 / €89.99) is a total redesign of the ecosystem’s central hub and the first upgrade to Hue’s bridge in 10 years. It connects to Hue’s Zigbee bulbs and accessories to add features like lighting scenes, dynamic effects, schedules, and out-of-home control. Sporting a new black look, it has a faster processor, more memory, and increased capacity. Designed to appeal to Hue super-users, it can connect 150 lights and 50 accessories (a soft limit) — that’s three times the capacity of the V2 bridge, which is not being retired.

Additionally, the Pro can store over 500 custom lighting scenes and provide faster response times, according to Signify, Hue’s parent company. Its Hue Chip Pro enables the company’s new Hue MotionAware feature, which turns your existing Hue lights into motion sensors for motion-activated lighting and security features. The Pro finally brings Wi-Fi (2.4GHz) to a Hue bridge, so it doesn’t have to sit next to your router.

There’s a migration tool that will transfer all the settings of your current Bridge with a few taps. The company says support for combining multiple bridges into a single Bridge Pro will arrive before the end of the year. The Hue Bridge Pro is available now for $89.99.

New line of low-cost lights

Well known for being one of the pricier, premium smart lighting companies, Philips Hue has announced a new entry-level lineup of smart lights, which it says is designed to appeal to new smart home users.

Starting at $25 per bulb, or as low as $15 in a multipack, the new Hue Essential lineup includes A19 bulbs ($24.99, or a four-pack for $60), BR30 downlight ($24.99, or a two-pack for $40), and GU10 spotlights ($24.99, or a four-pack for $60). An RGB color Essential Strip Light costs $59.99 for 5 meters and $99.99 for 10, and an Essential Flex Strip Light, a new neon option for Hue, is available for $99.99 for 5 meters and $169.99 for 10 meters.

These lights are compatible with the Hue Bridge (V2 and Pro) and have all the same capabilities and connectivity features as the company’s higher-end lights, just with lower specs. The key differences are that they don’t dim as low, have a narrower range of white (2200–6500K), and offer more basic color quality.

The Essential bulbs (not the light strips) will also support Matter-over-Thread connectivity, as part of a next-gen connectivity chip for all its new bulbs. This will be alongside the “core technologies” of Bluetooth and Zigbee.

This means you can connect them directly to Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, or any Matter platform. (You’ll need a Matter controller and Thread border router for setup.) Previously, you needed a Hue Bridge to connect to Apple Home, but you could connect to Alexa via Bluetooth or Zigbee with the right Echo Hub.

The bulbs are available now, with the light strips slated for December. There will be several starter kit options that bundle lights with Hue Bridge V2, starting at $79.99.

Along with the launch of its lower-cost line, Hue is revamping its flagship bulb, the Philips Hue A19. The company says the new model is 40 percent more energy efficient compared to its prior bulbs, and can dim to 0.2 percent brightness. The color-capable versions maintain Hue’s top color-matching quality, which the company is now calling ChromaSync, to differentiate from the Essentials.

All the new Hue bulbs also have the next-gen connectivity chip, which supports Matter-over-Thread connectivity to connect to any Matter-compatible smart home platform. They’re available now, starting at $59.99 for white and color ambiance, $44.99 for white ambiance, and $15.99 for white.

Hue’s existing bulbs will not be upgraded to Matter-over-Thread, and the Bridge Pro does not support Thread, but existing Hue bulbs can be bridged to Matter through the Bridge V2 or Bridge Pro.

Lots of love for light strips

The company’s line of light strips is being expanded and will feature seven models, which are set to launch in the US in March. The flagship model is the new OmniGlow strip light, which Signify’s John Smith says is “the best light strip we’ve ever made.” It uses advanced chip-scale-package (CSP) technology to get rid of the spottiness commonly found on most light strips, packing together 170 tiny LEDs in each square centimeter. It can dim down to 0.5 percent and pump out up to 4,500 lumens of brightness.

Along with the two new Essential light strips, Hue is introducing a less expensive version of its white and color gradient ambient light strip. The Hue Flux Strip Light costs $70 for 3 meters and $99.99 for 5 meters. An Ultra Bright version that can also reach up to 6,000 lumens is slated to launch later next year.

The new light strips will all work with a new line of accessories from Hue, which includes corners, blackout cables, and extenders that can reach up to 20 meters, providing more flexibility when placing the strips. Outdoors, a new gradient light strip and neon strip are joining the lineup. All of the new lights, except for the Essentials, feature ChromaSync technology but operate over Zigbee and Bluetooth only, without Thread.

Here’s a rundown of the new light strip lineup:

Hue is expanding its already robust outdoor lighting offerings with permanent patio lights and permanent outdoor lights. The Festavia Hue Globe string lights start at $159.99 and feature color and tunable white light, the same effects as the current Festavia string lights. They have a striking design similar to Hue’s high-end LightGuide bulbs.

Hue is getting in on the craze for permanent outdoor lights fixed to the outside of your house with the Festavia Permanent lights (starting at $119.99). These are white and color ambiance lights designed to be fixed to your home “permanently” along a roofline, for example. They are available now in several lengths.

Overall, it’s an impressive rollout for the company, which has faced mounting pressure from cheaper competitors.