Philips have revealed the new 2nd generation of their Hue Bridge. The new hub brings HomeKit compatibility and the sci-fi voice control of your home you’ve always dreamt of…
Siri voice control – Using Siri and third-party apps, HomeKit-enabled devices across a home can interact to deliver dynamic new experiences in an easy and secure way. You can ask Siri to ‘wake up’ your home, turning on your Philips Hue lights and setting the thermostat to a comfortable temperature helping you and your family have a pleasant start to the day. At night you can ask Siri to recall light scenes you’ve created using the Philips Hue app, or set your home to ‘night mode’ turning off your lights and locking your front door.
Hue early adopters will be pleased to hear the new hub will make all their existing bulbs HomeKit compatible and bring Siri voice control to their setups too.
New Philips Hue Bridge – The new Philips Hue Bridge 2.0 seamlessly brings together existing and forthcoming Philips Hue bulbs and lamps, so that they benefit from all the functionalities of HomeKit and work seamlessly with other HomeKit-enabled devices. Through Philips Hue app 1.10, the new Philips Hue Bridge 2.0 will be able to support multiple connected home platforms now and into the future, including Apple HomeKit and iOS 9. Imagine asking Siri to dim a light by simply saying “Siri, dim the table lamp to 30 percent” or illuminating a specific room by saying “Siri, turn on the bathroom light.” You can even recall a favorite scene such as ‘Sunset’ by saying “Sunset mode.” The new, square shaped, Philips Hue Bridge 2.0 is compatible with the Philips Hue app and third-party apps including those with HomeKit support. The original, round shaped, Philips Hue Bridge will also continue to be supported and receive software updates.
The new Philips Hue Bridge is available in Europe and North America from this week for around £50 with a discount available for existing bridge owners that want to upgrade.
No products found.
meethue.com : Philips Hue Tap Smart Switch
Last update on 2024-11-15 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Worth noting that although Philips say the hub and new starter kits are shipping, as of today, nowhere in the UK has stock that I can find (or even new listings or details). The Philips rep on facebook says they have heard of availability but I can’t see where.
Their own shop site doesn’t have the new parts either and supposedly is planned for updates later this month. One source even says 1 Nov which incidentally is when the discounted hub will be available for sale with a discount to existing owners.
One other thing – the new bulbs are also reported as being much brighter. So worth waiting a bit if planning on a new purchase.
I have the Iris (x4), bulbs, hub v1 and a beyond table lamp. Really good quality and a great system.
Thanks for that info Paul. M.
Paul – I assume the info has updated since you posted a couple of days ago, but the new hub is now showing on the meethue.com website, and is listed on amazon.co.uk for pre-order as a starter kit (although I can’t find it there as a standalone product).
The meethue.com site also gives details of how to obtain the 33% discount for upgrading from a v1 hub. Orders can be placed from November 1st with limited stock available, so set your calendar reminders!
The Bridge is a dumb idea. With all the smart devices out here, Apple should advance on the HomeKit system and create a device (+ upgrade their routers) which can take over the function of this ‘bridge’ for ALL smart devices.