Philips Hue Launches Affordable Essentials Line, Brighter Light Strips & Matter Support

Philips Hue Unveils Affordable Essentials Line, Brighter Light Strips, and Matter Over Thread Support

Philips Hue has rolled out its most ambitious update in years, aiming to make smart lighting more accessible while maintaining its reputation for premium quality. The new lineup, announced at IFA 2025 in Berlin, includes a budget-friendly Essentials series, motion-sensing technology across all lights, and a completely redesigned range of light strips that deliver record-breaking brightness.

Breaking the Price Barrier with Hue Essentials

For years, Philips Hue products have been known for their reliability and advanced Zigbee network, but their high prices often discouraged new buyers. With the new Essentials line, the company—owned by Signify—is finally tackling this barrier.

Essentials bulbs start at just $25, or as low as $15 per bulb in multipacks.

That’s less than half the cost of Hue’s flagship color bulbs, which start around $60.

The lineup features a simplified range of white and color ambiance options, including A19/E27 bulbs, BR30 downlights, GU10 spotlights, and light strips.

While these budget bulbs don’t dim as deeply (2% vs. 0.2%) and may not match the exact color precision of Hue’s premium bulbs, they still meet the brand’s quality standards.

Hue CTO George Yianni explained, “The Essentials range maintains very good color accuracy, though it won’t guarantee perfect color matching across generations like our flagship line.”

Flagship Bulbs Get Smarter with ChromaSync

The premium Hue series isn’t being left behind. Philips Hue is refreshing its higher-end bulbs with a new, more energy-efficient A19 model and introducing a ChromaSync color technology. This ensures exact color reproduction, even if you pair a new bulb with one purchased a decade ago—a level of precision few competitors can match.

Thread and Matter Support: More Choice, More Philips Hue has rolled out its most ambitious update in years, aiming to make smart lighting more accessible while maintaining its reputation for premium quality. The new lineup, announced at IFA 2025 in Berlin, includes a budget-friendly Essentials series, motion-sensing technology across all lights, and a completely redesigned range of light strips that deliver record-breaking brightness.

Breaking the Price Barrier with Hue Essentials

For years, Philips Hue products have been known for their reliability and advanced Zigbee network, but their high prices often discouraged new buyers. With the new Essentials line, the company—owned by Signify—is finally tackling this barrier.

Essentials bulbs start at just $25, or as low as $15 per bulb in multipacks.

That’s less than half the cost of Hue’s flagship color bulbs, which start around $60.

The lineup features a simplified range of white and color ambiance options, including A19/E27 bulbs, BR30 downlights, GU10 spotlights, and light strips.

While these budget bulbs don’t dim as deeply (2% vs. 0.2%) and may not match the exact color precision of Hue’s premium bulbs, they still meet the brand’s quality standards.

Hue CTO George Yianni explained, “The Essentials range maintains very good color accuracy, though it won’t guarantee perfect color matching across generations like our flagship line.”

Thread and Matter Support: More Choice, More Compatibility

All new Hue bulbs will support Matter over Thread, allowing direct pairing with Apple Home, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa—no Hue Bridge required.

However, the Hue Bridge still plays an important role:

Advanced features like entertainment sync, dynamic lighting, and MotionAware automation remain exclusive to Hue’s bridges.

Yianni emphasized that Zigbee remains the backbone due to its superior reliability, while Thread offers broader interoperability.

This flexibility means customers can either keep everything inside the Hue ecosystem or mix and match with Matter-enabled devices.

The Brightest Light Strips Yet

Philips Hue is also transforming its light strip lineup with lower prices and cutting-edge performance.

OmniGlow Strip Light – Starting at $140, this is Hue’s first strip to deliver a completely uniform glow thanks to a dense array of microscopic LEDs. It reaches up to 4,500 lumens across 10 meters, making it twice as bright as the previous generation.

Flux Strip Light – A more affordable gradient strip starting at $69.99 for 3 meters (compared to $200 for 2 meters before).

Ultra Bright Flux Strip – Delivering up to 6,000 lumens, priced at $99.99.

Outdoors, Hue is also expanding into neon strips, patio lights, and permanent roofline lighting, offering cost-effective solutions for ambient exterior setups.

Competing with Govee, Tapo, and Nanoleaf

By lowering prices and adding Matter support, Philips Hue is positioning itself more aggressively against budget competitors like Govee and Tapo, as well as mid-tier rivals such as Nanoleaf and Lifx.

While Hue still isn’t the cheapest—some Govee bulbs cost under $10—the brand now offers a wider price spectrum to reach more users without sacrificing quality.

Why This Matters

For new buyers, the Essentials line finally makes Hue a realistic option. For existing users, Thread support means they can integrate Hue with broader ecosystems without buying another bridge. And with the revamped light strips, Philips Hue is once again setting the standard for brightness and design in smart lighting.

Yianni summed it up: “It’s about choice. We want to broaden our price points and make Hue accessible to more people, without compromising what makes it the most trusted smart lighting brand in the market.”

All new Hue bulbs will support Matter over Thread, allowing direct pairing with Apple Home, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa—no Hue Bridge required.

However, the Hue Bridge still plays an important role:

Advanced features like entertainment sync, dynamic lighting, and MotionAware automation remain exclusive to Hue’s bridges.

Yianni emphasized that Zigbee remains the backbone due to its superior reliability, while Thread offers broader interoperability.

This flexibility means customers can either keep everything inside the Hue ecosystem or mix and match with Matter-enabled devices.