Philips Hue at IFA 2025 — Essential bulbs, Bridge Pro and new strip lighting

At IFA 2025, Philips Hue unveiled its biggest product launch to date, introducing the new entry-level “Essential” smart bulb lineup alongside refreshed strip lighting and the more powerful Hue Bridge Pro.

Essential lineup — what’s new

• Form factors: A19 bulbs, GU10 spots and strip lights (both white-only and color versions).
• Connectivity: Bluetooth out of the box; full platform features available via Hue Bridge or Matter-over-Thread.
• Trade-offs vs regular Hue color/white bulbs: reduced dimming range, narrower whites (2200–6500K vs ~1000–20000K) and less accurate color — important if you sync lights to TVs or need exact matching.

Pricing & availability

• A19: $25 each or $60 for a 4-pack. Starter kits (US) with Hue Bridge V2: from $80 (2x E27 + Bridge) to $100 (4x E27 + Bridge).
• Essential strip light: December — $60 for 5m (16ft) or $100 for 10m (33ft).

Hue Bridge Pro

The new Bridge Pro has a darker design and much higher specs — Signify says ~5x the processing performance and ~15x the memory of the decade-old Bridge V2. It debuts Hue Motion Aware, which lets bulbs act as motion sensors (supports about 95% of existing Hue models). Bridge Pro arrives in North America in September 2025 for $90, and Signify plans support for combining multiple Bridges into a single Bridge Pro by year-end.

Strip lighting refresh

• OmniGlow: flagship strip with CSP tech for no visible hotspots — starts at $140 for 3m, arriving in November.
• Flux: indoor, outdoor, ultra-bright and neon variants up to 10m, from $70 for 3m.
• Festavia: string/permanent roofline lights — from $160 for 7m, permanent models available from $120 for 9m (September availability).

Other notes

• Signify introduced an A19 that better replicates daylight with ~40% improved efficiency vs its predecessor.
• Philips Hue announced a Sonos partnership to control lights via Sonos voice controls and to explore deeper light+sound integration.

Where to find them

Search for the new Philips Hue Essential lineup on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Philips+Hue+Essential+A19&tag=f1rede-20

Questions or thoughts? Which matters most when choosing smart bulbs — price, color accuracy, or smart-home compatibility? Share below.

Summary based on IFA 2025 announcements — price/availability as reported.