Our good friend Jonas over at smartlights.de has discovered Philips Hue’s next plan for the end of summer, which includes a new starter pack that will include the standard Hue Bridge along with three colour bulbs. The difference here, is that the bulbs have been upgrade in the brightness department.
Currently, Hue’s colour Ambiance bulbs max out at 806lm, which is fairly respectable, but also fairly standard these days, but the new bulbs will be see nearly a 300lm increase, bringing the new bulbs to 11oolm. Of course, if you’ve been following the development of brighter bulbs from Hue, you’ll already be aware of their white bulbs that are capable of a staggering 1600lm, just shy of double the lumen count of the standard white bulbs.
Whether the company plan to introduce 1600lm colour bulbs remains to be seen, but it does show that the company is trying to distinguish itself in the face of increased – and cheaper – competition. On the subject of price, there’s no firm information at present, but we expect the price to be pretty much in line with current starter packs, which themselves tend to regularly appear at discounted prices anyway.
Thanks to Jonas for the tipoff.