New Hue Lightguide bulbs start at $75, but they’re so pretty

Signify looks set to release a stunning new line of light bulbs for its Philips Hue brand, as the company continues to innovate its LED-based smart lighting line. The new Lightguide line features oversized, dimmable smart bulbs that come in three shapes and are designed for open lighting fixtures. These look like they could add some seriously stylish mood lighting to any setup.

The new full-color and white ambiance bulbs appeared on Amazon.de this week — first spotted by Fabian over at HueBlog.com. According to him, the bulbs will start at 75 euros ($75 USD). That’s each. These bulbs are not cheap, even by Hue standards.

Resembling Hue’s filament bulbs, dimmable white bulbs similarly designed for mood lighting, the Lightguide bulbs have the same subtle black base and clear glass bulb. But the Lightguide line is capable of full-color light as well as tunable white light and dimming. The new decorative bulbs come in three shapes: triangle, ellipse, and globe.

The bulbs are also big, clocking in at just under eight inches tall and five inches wide. By comparison, Hue’s filament Edison bulb is 5.2 by 2.4 inches. These are clearly not designed to be hidden in a lampshade but, rather, to be on display as beautiful light bulbs in open fixtures.

Each bulb has a visible inner tube and a reflective, glossy surface that “gives them a special light,” according to the product description. They output up to 500 lumens of light and 2,700 Kelvin, which is similar to the filament line, making these ambiance bulbs not suitable for task lighting.

As with all Hue bulbs, they are both Bluetooth and Zigbee enabled, so they will work with a Hue Bridge, directly with your phone or tablet, or paired to an Amazon Echo smart speaker. You should be able to control them with the Hue app, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple HomeKit, and Samsung SmartThings, as well as all of Philips Hue’s other smart home integrations. Signify has also committed to supporting the new smart home standard Matter through the Hue Bridge.

We may hear more about the new line, including exact pricing and availability, next week at IFA 2022. Signify — the company that owns Philips Hue — has traditionally announced new products at the event, which is known as Europe’s biggest tech show.

In the meantime, enjoy these pretty pictures and maybe start bulking up your smart lighting budget.

Images via Amazon.de