Google's OnHub router can now control Philips Hue lights, and its price drops $20 to $180
Google today said that its OnHub internet router can now connect to and allow users to control Philips Hue lights. — They're a common example of an Internet of Things (IoT) device …
Context & Ripple Effects
OnHub arrived in 2015 as Google's first Brillo device for the Google On smart home ecosystem — a router pitched as much as a home-automation hub as a Wi-Fi box. The launch reception was lukewarm: [[a:832335|Ars Technica's review found the design user-friendly but the performance and functionality thin for the $200 price]].
Adding Philips Hue control plus a $20 price cut to $180 is Google answering exactly that critique — making the hub half of the product real before asking buyers to pay a premium. The longer arc matters too: this is the same product line Google would eventually sunset, offering owners a discount toward Nest Wifi when support ended in December 2022.
First-order effects
- Philips Hue owners who bought OnHub for its smart-home pitch finally get the headline integration working through the router, while new buyers pay $180 instead of $200 for the same hardware.
Second-order effects
- Rivals in the router market face pressure to treat third-party device integrations as table stakes rather than add-ons, since Google just made 'controls your lights' part of the router comparison sheet.
- Philips Hue gains a second, free control surface beyond its own app and $60 hub — a distribution win that also weakens the case for buying dedicated smart-home hubs.
Third-order effects
- The pattern points toward networking hardware becoming the default control layer for the smart home — but the eventual end of OnHub support shows these converged devices carry a hidden dependency: the hub's usefulness dies with the vendor's software commitment, a risk pure-play routers don't carry.
- If router-as-hub becomes standard, accessory makers like Philips compete less on their own hubs and more on getting certified into whatever control layer ships inside the box people already own.
The trend: Home networking hardware is absorbing the smart-home hub role, turning router makers into gatekeepers of which connected devices users can actually control.