Philips Hue just made a big play in the smart home space at the IFA tech expo, confirming a wave of new products after leaks surfaced earlier this week. The lineup includes motion-sensing smart bulbs, a redesigned video doorbell with a sharper 2K fisheye camera and new light strips — all designed to expand Hue’s reach beyond traditional lighting.
One of the biggest changes comes with the launch of Hue’s new Essential bulb line. The standard A19/E26 bulbs are priced lower than the company’s usual offerings, starting at $25 each or $15 apiece in a four-pack. That’s as much as a 50% savings compared with earlier Hue bulbs, making it easier for more people to get started with smart lighting.
Philips Hue also launched new tech that adds motion detection to its bulbs — the Bridge Pro hub. You’ll need to change out your existing Bridge, but the upside is you won’t have to swap out any of your current Hue bulbs. Also, the Bridge Pro has triple the capacity of the Bridge, allowing it to pair with 150 lights and 50 switches and sensors, and also store up to 500 personalized light scenes.
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The company says that with “just a few clicks,” you will be able to transfer the settings of all your Hue devices from the Bridge to the Bridge Pro. If you have more than one Bridge, you’ll be able to transfer those to a single Bridge Pro by year’s end.
“I like seeing Philips Hue introducing a budget smart light option in the Essential line, since their bulbs can get pricey,” says CNET home tech editor Tyler Lacoma. “It’s a bit disappointing that they still require a hub to enable Wi-Fi when so many other brands have ditched the requirement. On the plus side, those hubs now enable new features like that clever motion sensing technology — which I can’t wait to try out myself.”
New bulbs add Thread
The new Essential bulbs and the updated E27 bulbs now feature Thread, as well as Zigbee and Bluetooth. These bulbs can now be integrated into a Matter smart home protocol without having to use a Hue Bridge.
At IFA, Philips Hue also introduced five new light strips — providing more brightness and flexibility of use — and all of them will be available in the coming months:
Doorbell gets a big upgrade
The Hue Doorbell was announced earlier this year and will be available in October. The resolution will be upgraded to 2K with a fisheye lens, and there will be no extra charge to view the most recent 24 hours of video recording.
The doorbell will trigger the lights you choose and also send real-time notifications, while the Smart Chime sounds alerts. The Hue Secure cameras will be integrated into Apple Home.
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