Philips Hue is Raising Prices in the US

Philips Hue will raise prices across its smart lighting and security products for US customers starting July 1st, with parent company Signify attributing the increases directly to tariffs.

The company initially notified customers that prices would "go up" through a promotional message before confirming the tariff-related reasoning in a statement. Signify has not provided specific pricing details or identified which products will be affected, though the company's statement suggests changes may impact the entire Hue lineup.

Some products already reflect higher US pricing, including the new $219.99 Hue Play Wall Washer light, which costs approximately 10% more than the European price when currencies are converted. The latest $32.99 Smart Button also exceeds the $24.99 launch price of its predecessor, while European pricing remained at 21.99 euro ($25.50) for both generations.

Updating firmware

[ebunga]

Please do not turn off your lights or you will have a few hundred dollars worth of bricks.

The future is stupid. Though on the flip side, I don't miss changing multiple light bulbs every week.

Re:Updating firmware

[Z00L00K]

A few years ago I had a hue bulb and a remote, but that was just to toy around with. Today with the cloud dependency they are dead to me - there's no reason for any system to be dependent on cloud services.

Shelly is a better alternative. You can connect it to the cloud if you like, but it's purely optional - and it's a pretty nice choice for Home Assistant.

Re:Updating firmware

[Ksevio]

Today with the cloud dependency they are dead to me - there's no reason for any system to be dependent on cloud services.

They don't actually have a cloud dependency, that's just for convenience and for people to control the lights outside their home. The hubs can be connected to direct locally and most of the bulbs connect using zigbee and can connect to 3rd party hubs.

I have a few that are connected to a machine running HomeAssistant that are all completely local. Hue bulbs are pretty good quality, but I wouldn't say they're worth the extra cost, especially the LED strips

Re: Updating firmware

[Holi]

I get a message on my hue app that says a cloud account will soon be mandatory.

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[Ksevio]

If that's the case, I would switch to using a 3rd party hub

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[Pascoea]

considering no one is currently enforcing them

Facts differ from your false reality. https://www.politico.com/inter... [politico.com]

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[Tablizer]

That revenue may be from illegals bribing ICE to look the other the way. Worked for my friend. They wired their shirt so that when their arms are moved back into handcuff position, cash slides up from their front pocket.

There is a reinforced vertical slit on the inside of the pocket. When arms are stretched back, a string going from each arm tied just above elbows then grows taunt, pulling a loop-pin threaded through the pocket slit up.

The other side of the pin is attached to a half-cut envelope "cup" holdi

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[Meekrobe]

We're not going to stop having lights inside and outside our homes. All my exterior lights were Hue, the metal casing and glass were all good quality and I had no issues with the product. "High prices oppose conspicuous consumption. Tariff revenue funds government." You'd think the right would oppose artifically raising prices to fund the government.

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[Tailhook]

You'd think the right would oppose artifically raising prices to fund the government.

Why would anyone think that? The right makes their view perfectly clear on this: the Right wants the US to reindustrialize. They leave nothing on the table here: they campaign on it and trumpet their (few) successes.

It's the left that it cryptic about their reasons. They can't say what they really think: that they can't stand the thought of a factory being built. That some working class white man might enjoy a bit of income growth.

Perhaps that fact should inform you about the morality of the faction

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[Meekrobe]

Because "low prices" and "small government" and "low taxation" have been conservative principles my entire life. You can include a "competitive global market" and "free trade" too. "can't stand the thought of a factory being built" this is silly, there's Amazon warehouses going up all across the country. Wouldn't make a difference if those were factories making the same junk.

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[nevermindme]

Where did you get that, the history of the steel industry in the past 50 years gives you a good indication why tarrif policy needs to be rapid and responding to the current situation. Republicans and Democrats want to keep steel production on shore, would be nice if it were US stock market companies, but they have keep US steel production on shore with tariffs.

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[jvkjvk]

>Because "low prices" and "small government" and "low taxation" have been conservative principles my entire life

You should watch what they *do* not what they *say*. Conservatives have been the driving force behind higher government spending, not liberals. Lol.

Low taxation? Yeah for the rich and corporations. Do yo know that the latest tax bill would *RAISE* taxes on the poorest people? And give it to the richest?

So much winning...erm "principles", if you want to call them that.

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[AnOnyxMouseCoward]

Forget the right or left or up or down for a sec. As you said, tariffs, in theory, will bring some industries back in the long-term, and need to be high and sustained for it to work. I understand the concept, I understand wanting industries back, wanting good jobs for folks. The end goal of that, hopefully, is to give US citizens a better quality of life, which is commendable (let's also forget what happens to people in other countries, since the US government acts for US interests).

However, what I and ma

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[tlhIngan]

The problem with the US tariff plan is that there are currently about 500,000 manufacturing jobs out there right now that are unfulfilled.

That's not jobs created by tariffs, that's just jobs out there that no one is applying for.

All the new manufacturing jobs being created ignores that fact that there's plenty of jobs out there right now going unfilled. So who's going to fill those new jobs being created by tariffs?

And yes, we all know jobs are going unfilled because they're likely either really physical,

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[ceoyoyo]

And yes, we all know jobs are going unfilled because they're likely either really physical, have pay that's crap, or both.

When people talk about "factory jobs" they seem to like to use machinists or the like as an example. Those aren't really factory jobs, there are still lots of them in the US, and they're mostly programmers for CNC machines these days.

Factory jobs are those ones Slashdot likes the accuse the Chinese of using slave labour to do. They also still exist in the US, where lots of them are done

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[Tailhook]

This angst about the impact of tariffs on prices appears purely selective and disingenuous to me. There is no such hand wringing about the impact of other government policies on costs when it comes to energy or housing or food or vehicles and many other matters. Just tariffs. Somehow the costs imposed by tariffs are a great crime, but all the rest is fine and of no concern.

Will tariffs work to achieve the stated intentions? No. As you point out, it would require fundamental policy change that survive

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[ArchieBunker]

It's the left that it cryptic about their reasons. They can't say what they really think: that they can't stand the thought of a factory being built. That some working class white man might enjoy a bit of income growth.

What do you think this mythical factory is going to pay the workers? You think it's going to the 1950s again where a man with a high school education can own a home and support a family while assembling light bulbs?

Manufacturing isn't coming back.

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[Powercntrl]

You'd think the establishment left would have some affinity for tariffs. High prices oppose conspicuous consumption.

Uh no, the goal of the left is that the fruits of economic prosperity should be accessible to everyone, not just those at the top of the income ladder. So, making light bulbs more expensive to the average working man kind of flies in the face of that.

Plus, consumption taxes are inherently regressive; this has been explained to death.

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[fahrbot-bot]

Plus, consumption taxes are inherently regressive; this has been explained to death.

As have who actually pays tariffs. Yet here we are with a leader who somehow got a degree from Wharton and thinks, or at least says, it's the exporter (actually, exporting country - China!) and people who believe him - and, apparently, can't use Google or Wikipedia.

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[awwshit]

I accomplished this wall washing with a WiZ bulb and a super cheap lamp, behind the TV. I only get one color at a time. I did this for less than $40 total.

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[thegarbz]

That's something the world could use less of in any case. A useless pile solder and leds: e-waste destined for landfills.

Why and in what way? I mean sure everything is destined for landfills eventually, but why specifically this light? People have been integrating ambient lighting into their homes since before the LED was invented, this is just the latest iteration with a bonus point of synchronising with a TV.

Add to that the "Ambilight" idea with TVs definitely makes the entire entertainment area feel more massive and I know several people who buy shitty Philips TVs just to get that feature (ambilight works well but Philips

Prices are already high

[Holi]

Hue bulbs are incredibly overpriced compared to other bulbs on the market and require a hub.

They do work better, but youâ(TM)re better off buying them 2nd hand on eBay, even before the tariffs.

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[Tony Isaac]

Yes, I looked into Hue systems and about fainted from the sticker shock. They're like 10x more expensive than the competition. And these days, some respectable alternatives are starting to show up, they're not all cheap knock-offs any more.

Thanks for telling us your product is foreign made

[Fly Swatter]

Why do I need a wall washer light? or a smart button?

At least tell me they don't require an internet connection to operate..

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[nevermindme]

There is no "zero sneaky" in the world anymore. Every barrier is just another challenge to be overcome. If collecting near a trillion dollars per year in tarrifs makes ones soul feel better I think we can go ahead. But every one of our peers economically have the same system in place, we just sort of skipped it because we were the sole nation to be in great shape post WWII. Every nation has had their chance to rebuild from WWII, now we treat the peers the same way we are treated and its peal clutchi

I fired all of my "smart" bulbs.

[Petersko]

For just one example, I had a pair of pot lights in the living room that didn't behave themselves. Hue in one iteration. One would come on, one might not. They would sometimes come on in weird colours instead of the white state they were left in. Sometimes they were just on-responsive and I would have to reset them by physical power off.

In short, they were just fucking terrible at being light bulbs. I eventually tossed them all, and put in old school dimmer switches and bulbs. It all just works.