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

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Smart lighting institution Philips Hue debuted a clump of caller products this week astatine the IFA tech amusement successful Berlin, Germany, and astir of them are disposable now. The launch, which is the biggest successful the company’s history, includes cheaper astute lights, a caller span for its Zigbee ecosystem, a redesigned enactment of airy strips, and caller bundle features and connectivity capabilities. Hue besides introduced its first video doorbell and an upgraded camera to its Hue Secure line.

Hue’s third-generation span arrives

The Hue Bridge Pro ($89.99 / €89.99) is simply a full redesign of the ecosystem’s cardinal hub and the archetypal upgrade to Hue’s span successful 10 years. It connects to Hue’s Zigbee bulbs and accessories to adhd features similar lighting scenes, dynamic effects, schedules, and out-of-home control. Sporting a caller achromatic look, it has a faster processor, much memory, and accrued capacity. Designed to entreaty to Hue super-users, it tin link 150 lights and 50 accessories (a brushed limit) — that’s 3 times the capableness of the V2 bridge, which is not being retired.

Additionally, the Pro tin store implicit 500 customized lighting scenes and supply faster effect times, according to Signify, Hue’s genitor company. Its Hue Chip Pro enables the company’s caller Hue MotionAware feature, which turns your existing Hue lights into question sensors for motion-activated lighting and information features. The Pro yet brings Wi-Fi (2.4GHz) to a Hue bridge, truthful it doesn’t person to beryllium adjacent to your router.

There’s a migration instrumentality that volition transportation each the settings of your existent Bridge with a fewer taps. The institution says enactment for combining aggregate bridges into a azygous Bridge Pro volition get earlier the extremity of the year. The Hue Bridge Pro is disposable present for $89.99.

New enactment of low-cost lights

Well known for being 1 of the pricier, premium astute lighting companies, Philips Hue has announced a new entry-level lineup of astute lights, which it says is designed to entreaty to caller astute location users.

Starting astatine $25 per bulb, oregon arsenic debased arsenic $15 successful a multipack, the caller Hue Essential lineup includes A19 bulbs ($24.99, oregon a four-pack for $60), BR30 downlight ($24.99, oregon a two-pack for $40), and GU10 spotlights ($24.99, oregon a four-pack for $60). An RGB colour Essential Strip Light costs $59.99 for 5 meters and $99.99 for 10, and an Essential Flex Strip Light, a caller neon enactment for Hue, is disposable for $99.99 for 5 meters and $169.99 for 10 meters.

These lights are compatible with the Hue Bridge (V2 and Pro) and person each the aforesaid capabilities and connectivity features arsenic the company’s higher-end lights, conscionable with little specs. The cardinal differences are that they don’t dim arsenic low, person a narrower scope of achromatic (2200–6500K), and connection much basal colour quality.

The Essential bulbs (not the airy strips) volition besides support Matter-over-Thread connectivity, arsenic portion of a next-gen connectivity spot for each its caller bulbs. This volition beryllium alongside the “core technologies” of Bluetooth and Zigbee.

This means you tin link them straight to Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, oregon immoderate Matter platform. (You’ll request a Matter controller and Thread borderline router for setup.) Previously, you needed a Hue Bridge to link to Apple Home, but you could link to Alexa via Bluetooth oregon Zigbee with the close Echo Hub.

The bulbs are disposable now, with the airy strips slated for December. There volition beryllium respective starter kit options that bundle lights with Hue Bridge V2, starting astatine $79.99.

New flagship bulbs

Along with the motorboat of its lower-cost line, Hue is revamping its flagship bulb, the Philips Hue A19. The institution says the caller exemplary is 40 percent much vigor businesslike compared to its anterior bulbs, and tin dim to 0.2 percent brightness. The color-capable versions support Hue’s apical color-matching quality, which the institution is now calling ChromaSync, to differentiate from the Essentials.

All the caller Hue bulbs besides person the next-gen connectivity chip, which supports Matter-over-Thread connectivity to link to immoderate Matter-compatible astute location platform. They’re disposable now, starting astatine $59.99 for achromatic and colour ambiance, $44.99 for achromatic ambiance, and $15.99 for white.

Hue’s existing bulbs volition not beryllium upgraded to Matter-over-Thread, and the Bridge Pro does not enactment Thread, but existing Hue bulbs tin beryllium bridged to Matter done the Bridge V2 oregon Bridge Pro.

Lots of emotion for airy strips

The company’s enactment of airy strips is being expanded and volition diagnostic 7 models, which are acceptable to motorboat successful the US successful March. The flagship exemplary is the caller OmniGlow portion light, which Signify’s John Smith says is “the champion airy portion we’ve ever made.” It uses precocious chip-scale-package (CSP) exertion to get escaped of the spottiness commonly recovered connected astir airy strips, packing unneurotic 170 tiny LEDs successful each quadrate centimeter. It tin dim down to 0.5 percent and pump retired up to 4,500 lumens of brightness.

Along with the 2 caller Essential airy strips, Hue is introducing a little costly mentation of its achromatic and colour gradient ambient airy strip. The Hue Flux Strip Light costs $70 for 3 meters and $99.99 for 5 meters. An Ultra Bright mentation that tin besides scope up to 6,000 lumens is slated to motorboat aboriginal adjacent year.

The caller airy strips volition each enactment with a caller enactment of accessories from Hue, which includes corners, blackout cables, and extenders that tin scope up to 20 meters, providing much flexibility erstwhile placing the strips. Outdoors, a caller gradient airy portion and neon portion are joining the lineup. All of the caller lights, but for the Essentials, diagnostic ChromaSync exertion but run implicit Zigbee and Bluetooth only, without Thread.

Here’s a rundown of the caller airy portion lineup:

Philips Hue OmniGlow portion light, starting astatine $139.99.
Philips Hue Flux portion light, starting astatine $69.99.  
Philips Hue Flux ultra agleam portion light, starting astatine €99.99 (no US pricing oregon motorboat date).  
Philips Hue Flux outdoor portion light, starting astatine €149.99 (no US pricing).  
Philips Hue neon outdoor portion light, starting astatine $149.99.  
Philips Hue Essential portion light
Philips Hue Essential flex portion light, flexible neon-style light

Permanently outdoors

The Festavia Permanent Lights tin enactment up year-round to instantly decorate your location for the season.

Hue is expanding its already robust outdoor lighting offerings with imperishable patio lights and imperishable outdoor lights. The Festavia Hue Globe drawstring lights commencement astatine $159.99 and diagnostic colour and tunable achromatic light, the aforesaid effects arsenic the existent Festavia drawstring lights. They person a striking plan akin to Hue’s high-end LightGuide bulbs.

Hue is getting successful connected the craze for imperishable outdoor lights fixed to the extracurricular of your location with the Festavia Permanent lights (starting astatine $119.99). These are achromatic and colour ambiance lights designed to beryllium fixed to your location “permanently” on a roofline, for example. They are disposable present successful respective lengths.

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

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