Philips Hue Expected to Launch New Filament Light Bulbs and HomeKit Smart Plug This Fall

Monday June 3, 2019 4:59 AM PDT by Mitchel Broussard
Philips Hue is planning to launch a new collection of accessories this fall, according to a new report today by iCulture. The collection will include filament light bulbs and a brand-new smart plug.

This would be the first time that Philips Hue launches its own smart plug accessory, but it's unclear if you will need a Philips Hue bridge to connect the plug or if it will be a standalone device. Today's report states that you will be able to set schedules and timers on the plug and it will be compatible with HomeKit, Google Assistant, and Alexa.

Image via iCulture

Like other smart plugs, Philips Hue's device will let you plug in a lamp, tea kettle, or other device so that you can control them through voice commands or via your smartphone. The smart plug will launch in Europe for €29.95 and in the United States for $24.95.

As for the light bulbs, Philips Hue is said to be planning to sell a small round, a large round, and an elongated variant of the filament bulbs. These bulbs have a predicted launch date of the second week of September and a price range of €19.95 to €29.95.

The new bulbs are believed to be Bluetooth-enabled, suggesting that you may not need a Philips Hue bridge to operate them. The fall collection will also introduce revamped versions of existing Philips Hue bulbs, including the Philips Hue Go device.

Tag: Philips Hue
21 comments


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truthertech
11 weeks ago

Yeah, that’s what we need: expensive incandescent lightbulbs. What better way to waste money than on short-lived lightbulbs that have special electronics in them to make them more expensive and more difficult to dispose of properly when they die.



Wow, slow down cowboy. Take a moment to read up on these. They aren't real incandescents; they just have "fake" filaments. They are still LED, and are as energy efficient as straight up LED, and they are far from "short lived," as Phillips estimates they will last at least ten times as long as a traditional light bulb. Now you can breathe.
Rating: 7 Votes
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H3LL5P4WN
11 weeks ago
Hopefully they're LED filaments and not actual filaments:

https://www.usa.lighting.philips.com/consumer/choose-a-bulb/vintageLED
Rating: 4 Votes
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orbital~debris
11 weeks ago
Love Philips’ Hue products - I have amassed quite a few now, and they all (Hub included) work reliably with HomeKit.
Rating: 4 Votes
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T'hain Esh Kelch
11 weeks ago

Hopefully they're LED filaments and not actual filaments:

https://www.usa.lighting.philips.com/consumer/choose-a-bulb/vintageLED

They wouldn't be allowed to sell those in the EU if they are not LED filaments, so that would leave out quite a huge market if not.
Rating: 3 Votes
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H3LL5P4WN
11 weeks ago

Edison-style Hue bulbs would be all I need to finish converting the last of the lights in my home over to Hue. We have a few fixtures that simply look better with the filament style bulbs, but even then I still use the LED versions. I'd love to move those over to Hue, so we can have better control over them.


While this basically goes against the appeal of an Edison bulb entirely, I would max out a credit card if Philips made full-on color changing Edisons. I love the look of those bulbs, but to combine them with the capabilities of a normal Hue bulb would be god-tier.
Rating: 2 Votes
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dysamoria
11 weeks ago

Wow, slow down cowboy. Take a moment to read up on these. They aren't real incandescents; they just have "fake" filaments. They are still LED, and are as energy efficient as straight up LED, and they are far from "short lived," as Phillips estimates they will last at least ten times as long as a traditional light bulb. Now you can breathe.


Thank you for letting me know the details about this light bulb. I don’t dive into the product’s company website, I just read the articles. It said “filament” and I took it at face value. Thanks again :-)
Rating: 1 Votes
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Mike MA
11 weeks ago
Hue basically introduced me to HomeKit, so every competitive addition is welcome.
Rating: 1 Votes
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RMo
11 weeks ago

It'll be interesting to see if these have BlueTooth instead of Zigbee (meaning they couldn't talk to current Hue hubs), or in addition to Zigbee (meaning the could work with hubs or go hubless).

I'm thinking the last sentence, "The fall collection will also introduce revamped versions of existing Philips Hue bulbs..." may be the most interesting part - might we see a BlueTooth-enabled hub? And/or BlueTooth versions of the "normal" Hue bulbs?


The actual iCulture article the Mac Rumors article links to says they will include both Zigbee and Bluetooth (it's Dutch, but: "...zowel met Zigbee als Bluetooth werken"). I looked this up because it was also unclear to me from the MR summary. I'm glad to see this--the Hue Bridge has a fantastic local API and tons of integrations, and I'd hate to see that go because they switched to Bluetooth-only, which I can't imagine would work nearly as well as Zigbee Light Link or Zigbee 3.0, even if we needed a new Bridge to make the connection. Sounds like we won't!
Rating: 1 Votes
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macduke
11 weeks ago

Hopefully they're LED filaments and not actual filaments:

https://www.usa.lighting.philips.com/consumer/choose-a-bulb/vintageLED

Yeah. The kids nowadays don't remember when lightbulbs could scorch the skin off your hand and were used to bake cakes in miniature ovens. Imagine how many hipster apartments would burn to the ground. I tried explaining this to my five year old just a few days ago and she was like "But why would they make the lightbulbs that hot?" I would be surprised if they were real filaments because I think it would overheat the wireless chips.
Rating: 1 Votes
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DMinTX
11 weeks ago
Hue pretty much covers all my lamps. I use Leviton for my wall switches.
Rating: 1 Votes
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