We’ve known for some time that there was major news on the way from Philips Hue, and the company has now announced all of the details.One of the headline features is a new Bridge Pro which turns your existing smart bulbs into motion sensors.Bulbs also get more affordable, light strips get brighter, and there’s support for Matter-over-Thread.
Finally, the smart doorbell leaked earlier in the year is now official … Plans to turn existing Philips Hue light bulbs into motion sensors were leaked at the beginning of this year.We also discovered there was a smart doorbell on the way through an update to the Hue app.Turning existing Hue bulbs into motion sensors Although you won’t need to update any of your bulbs to get this new functionality, you will need to swap out your existing Hue Bridge for the new Bridge Pro.
This is a $90 purchase, but there are some other new features to help ease the pain.reports that It can support three times as many devices and store over 500 lighting scenes to provide faster response times.If your head aches at the thought of reconfiguring all your Hue devices to swap bridges, the company says that a migration tool will transfer all of the settings for you.
If you have multiple bridges, then you’ll want to hold fire for a while as there will be support for migrating these to a single Bridge Pro by the end of the year.Hue Secure smart doorbell The new Hue Secure Doorbell is intended to compete with Ring and Nest by offering a higher resolution 2K fisheye camera.reports that it also includes 24-hour video history without a subscription.
It of course pairs with Hue lights so that you can set it to automatically turn on outdoor lights as somebody approaches the front door, as well as the option to trigger interior lights to supplement the chime with visual alerts.It will go on sale in the US, Europe and the UK next month for $170.However, Apple Home support won’t be available at launch, the company instead promising that this will arrive at an unspecified later date.
Cheaper Hue lights A new range of Hue Essential lights are being launched with prices starting at just $20 each when purchased as a pack of four.has the details.Five new light strips There will also be five new light strips, with the first of these available from next month.
These have closer LED spacing to provide brighter and more uniform lighting.The company also promises that they are more flexible, making it easier to turn corners and flow curves.Hue OmniGlow Lightstrip (3/5/10 meters) from $139.99 – launching in November 2025 (EU&US) Hue Flux Gradient Lightstrip (3/4/5/6/10 meters) from $69.99 – launching in October 2025 (EU) and March 2026 (US) Hue Flux Ultra Bright Gradient Lightstrip (3/5/10 meters) starting at $99.99 – launching in October 2025 (EU) Hue Flux Gradient Outdoor Lightstrip (5/6/10 meters) starting at $149.99 – launching in October 2025 (EU) and March 2026 (US) Hue Neon Gradient Outdoor Lightstrip (3/5/10 meters) starting at $139.99 – launching in October 2025 (EU) and March 2026 (US) Finally, there will be new outdoor Festavia Globe string lights.
Hue Festavia Globe with outdoor power supply in 7, 14, and 21 meters starting at $159.99 Hue Festavia Globe without power supply in 7, 14, and 21 meters starting at $129.99 2-pack replacement bulbs for $19.99 The 7-meter short versions will be available in September, and the longer string lights in December 2025 Check out the video below for a look at all the new products.Highlighted accessories The official Philips Hue store on Amazon Official Apple Store on Amazon Anker 511 Nano Pro ultra-compact iPhone charger Spigen MagFit case for iPhone 16e – adds MagSafe support Apple MagSafe Charger with 25w power for iPhone 16 models Apple 30W charger for above You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day.Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop.
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