Signify’s smart lighting system is getting even smarter. In parallel with the IFA electronics trade fair in Berlin, the company announced its first light bulb that directly supports the Matter standard. The now eighth product generation of the tulip-shaped A19 lamp can be connected to Matter platforms such as Apple Home, Google Home, or Samsung SmartThings without a Hue Bridge – because in addition to Zigbee and Bluetooth, it also supports the Thread radio protocol.
First Philips Lamps With Matter Over Thread
“We have no plans to build Thread light bulbs”, said George Yianni, head of technology for Philips Hue at Signify, back in 2022 in an interview. So what has caused this change of heart? “Strictly speaking, they are not Thread bulbs,” Yianni explained during the product presentation in Berlin. “They support Thread in addition to Zigbee and Bluetooth, thereby expanding the range of use.” Users can decide whether to use the lamp with Bluetooth and the app alone, in a Hue system with Bridge, or with a Border Router in a Matter setup.
In doing so, Signify is following a path that other companies such as Aqara and Bosch Smart Home have also taken: equipping products with switchable radio protocols for Matter. Philips Hue, however, designs the setup differently. Neither Thread nor Zigbee is preset on the bulb: “When it is first powered on, it alternates between sending signals in all three protocols,” Yianni explained. The app used for setup on the smartphone – whether the Hue app (with or without Bridge) or the commissioner of a Matter system – only needs to pick out the right signal.
New Hue Generation With More Powerful Chip
What the A19 model can do should be possible with more Hue light bulbs in the future.. “Other Hue products will follow that also support Matter over Thread,” said George Yianni. For this purpose, a new chip platform has been developed that is now being introduced into the lineup. This also applies, for example, to the new “Essentials” range: According to the press release, the more affordable lamps (A19 and GU10) and light strips will also support Matter over Thread. However, parallel operation of the two protocols is not planned. The risk of mutual radio interference would be too great, Yianni told matter-smarthome.
There will also be no firmware updates for earlier lamp generations. For technical reasons: “Thread itself is less of a hurdle than the high hardware requirements of Matter.” In other words: the memory of earlier Hue products is not sufficient for a firmware upgrade of the lamps to the cross-manufacturer smart home standard.
Zigbee Remains First Choice for Hue Lighting
A complete change of the radio protocol from Zigbee to Thread is out of the question anyway, said the technical director. Zigbee is simply too well established when it comes to lighting control and lighting scenarios. Signify has invested a great deal of know-how and effort in its Hue system, which enables a quick response from the lamps and synchronizes even large setups with many bulbs. So-called popcorn effects, where lamps react to commands with delays and one after another, hardly ever occur with Philips Hue.
The also presented, more powerful Hue Bridge Pro makes even better use of the protocol’s advantages and offers, for example, motion detection without additional sensors. For the new “Motion Aware” feature, it analyzes minimal fluctuations in the Zigbee signal that occur when people move through the room. On the Matter side, however, not even all platforms have integrated a group function that synchronizes lamps properly. To take advantage of both worlds, Yianni therefore still recommends a Zigbee setup with Bridge and, if necessary, export to Matter systems. The new Hue Bridge Pro also functions as a Matter Bridge for this purpose.
Those who use the new A19 lamp in Thread mode will have to accept some compromises compared to a Zigbee installation. Nevertheless, the technical advances of the new generation are still making an impact. The 2025 model is expected to be up to 40 percent more efficient than its predecessor, meaning it consumes significantly less energy.
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