Some Philips Hue smart bulbs now come with Bluetooth built in, allowing them to be set up and used without the $60 hub; prices start from $15
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge :
Context & Ripple Effects
For years, Philips Hue's pitch came with a toll: a $60 hub standing between every buyer and their first bulb. Meanwhile, the hub's job was quietly migrating into other hardware — Amazon's Echo Plus shipped with a built-in smart home hub and a free Hue bulb, and Google's OnHub router added direct Hue control while dropping its price.
Built-in Bluetooth collapses that toll: bulbs set up over the phone itself, with entry pricing cut to $15. The longer arc matters too — six years later, Hue's IFA 2025 refresh still centers a $99 Bridge Pro alongside updated bulbs, suggesting the hub survived not as a gate but as an upsell.
First-order effects
- New buyers can light a room for $15 with no $60 hub, moving Hue's entry price from accessory-tier to impulse-buy territory.
- Hue's own funnel changes shape: the hub shifts from mandatory first purchase to an optional add-on sold after the bulb.
Second-order effects
- Rivals whose pitch was 'our speaker/router already is your hub' — like Amazon's Echo Plus — lose that differentiation against bulbs that need no hub at all.
- Hue can now compete at the low end where generic Bluetooth bulbs live, pressuring budget brands on brand trust rather than price alone.
Third-order effects
- The smart home market splits structurally into hub-free starter setups and bridge-backed ecosystems — a split Hue itself embodies by 2025, selling a $99 Bridge Pro next to $25 bulbs.
- If the pattern holds, the hub stops being a category gatekeeper and becomes a premium tier for power users, with interoperability standards absorbing what proprietary bridges once locked in.
The trend: Smart lighting is splitting into hub-free entry products and premium bridge ecosystems, with the hub repositioned from required gateway to optional upsell.