Skip to main content

Philips Hue’s family of smart lights and accessories adds its brightest bulb yet

Philips Hue is one of the original smart lighting companies, known for a wide range of products, from standard A19 light bulbs to entertainment-focused accessories like the Philips Hue Play. Today, the company announced new additions to its lineup.

Philips’ new Hue White A21 bulbs have an output of 1,600 lumens, or the equivalent of a 100W bulb. It is Philips Hue’s brightest bulb yet, and can fully illuminate most spaces. It also has wireless dimming so you can adjust the brightness and shift from utility lighting to mood lighting with the touch of a button. The Philips Hue White A21 bulbs are scheduled to be available at the end of July and have a price tag of $20.

The Lightstrip Plus builds on the foundation laid by the previous light strip and allows you to place it nearly anywhere in the home. The light strip can be cut to fit a space, and other sections can be reused later. The Lightstrip Plus will be available this week at Target and later this summer at other retailers for $80, with 1-meter extensions going for an extra $25.

The last addition is an upgrade to the Philips Hue Bloom, a table lamp with a lot of style. The Hue Bloom is available in a white finish and outputs up to 500 lumens. The color temperature can be tuned from warm (around 2000K) to a cool (6,500K). The Hue Bloom is a small lamp that’s perfect for use in small spaces, but it isn’t limited solely to white light. The Hue Bloom can output all of the millions of colors that other Hue products can. It provides indirect light that is right at home in the bedroom or on a side table in the dining room.

Though the company charges a premium for its smart lighting, the cost is often lower than other high-end competitors.

Patrick Hearn
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Patrick Hearn writes about smart home technology like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, smart light bulbs, and more. If it's a…
How to use Philips Hue lights with geofencing
The Philips Hue app.

Smart lights are one of the greatest inventions since ... well, since Edison invented the light bulb. With smart lights, you can automate the lights in your home, access vast color spectrums, and create easy holiday lighting displays. One of the easiest ways to automate your lighting and create a safe entryway and a bright, welcoming home, is to use geofencing with smart lights such as Philips Hue.
What is geofencing?

A "geofence" is the virtual boundary you set for yourself and your devices.

Read more
Wyze Lamp Socket turns any dumb light bulb into a smart one
wyze lamp socket turns outdoor lights smart

Wyze Week starts today, and with it comes a lot of new product announcements and sales. Two of the most impressive new products are the Wyze Lamp Socket and Wyze Solar Panel.

The Wyze Lamp Socket provides flexible power options for the Wyze Cam v3 by allowing users to power the camera through a light fixture. This eliminates the need for long wires or extension cords when placing the camera in the house.

Read more
Philips Hue vs. Philips WiZ Smart Light Bulbs
Philips Hue sync box.

If you're just getting started with smart light bulbs in your home, Philips Hue is one of the names likely on your radar. This brand has become synonymous with smart home lighting thanks to robust app support, a wide range of functions, and a routinely growing product lineup. What may confuse you when taking the plunge on a purchase is seeing another Philips brand on the store shelf called WiZ. In 2019, Signify (the lighting company spun off from Philips proper) acquired WiZ to bolster its lighting lineup. Unfortunately, WiZ and Hue smart light bulbs operate differently, so you really need to go all-in with one or the other to have a properly unified smart home lighting setup.

Hue uses a wireless standard called Zigbee, which has been around for a while as a means for low-power connections. Zigbee devices run on a different frequency than Wi-Fi and require their own physical hub. This hub connects to a Wi-Fi router, which in turn connects to your phone. The internet connection also allows for remote connectivity, so lights can turn off automatically as you leave the house, for example. Since its launch, Hue has added Bluetooth to its bulbs, so the hub isn't strictly necessary. Though the Bluetooth range is basically limited to within the same room as you, this can save the bit of time it takes to connect to the hub via Wi-Fi.

Read more