Smart lighting company Hue has released a new version of its Smart Button, one of the simplest ways of controlling Hue’s colorful smart lights. The new Smart Button has a bigger design and a bit of price hike — in the U.S., at least, where it now costs $32.99 compared to $29.99 for its predecessor. That’s significantly more than the UK and EU pricing for the new button — £19.99 and €21.99 respectively — possibly a sign of things to come.
A Zigbee device, the Hue button can be programmed to control any single or group of Hue light bulbs and fixtures through the Hue app. According to Philips Hue’s website, the button “allows you to trigger scenes based on time of day, or cycle through a selection. Press and hold to dim and brighten your lights, or even set it to start an automation.” This is the same functionality as the prior model, meaning all that appears to have changed is the design and the price.
The new button is almost twice the size, with a 45mm diameter (about 1.8 inches) versus 32mm (about 1.3 inches). It’s now more angular and flatter, versus the more bulbous style of the prior model. It also doesn’t come with a large plastic wall plate that resembles a standard light switch – handy for people who are used to using regular switches. Instead, it only comes with a small metal plate to magnetically attach the button to the wall, according to HueBlog’s hands-on with the button.
The Hue button uses the same CR2032 battery, which, according to Hue, should last for two years. HueBlog called out the battery for being a lot easier to replace on this new button than on the previous one.
I reviewed the first generation of the button when it launched in 2019 for $24.99, and it’s long been one of my favorite easy ways to control Hue lights. An update in 2023 added more control options, including the ability to cycle through Hue’s natural light scenes based on time of day, so you could get the right type of tunable white light for the time of day with just one press.
I like the idea of a slightly larger design, which could be easier to use, but the fact that it’s more expensive in the States than in the EU and UK is a worrying sign.
Hue is already one of the most expensive smart lighting brands, and based on an email the company sent to users earlier this month, it may be getting even more expensive — at least for those of us on this side of the pond. According to the promotional message I got on June 9th, Hue’s “prices go up on July 1.”
The note about the price increase appears to have only been sent to US customers, indicating the increase may be due to Trump’s tariffs. We’ve reached out to Signify (Philips Hue’s parent company) to confirm and to find out which products will be affected.
Read the full article here
