Philips Hue Bulbs Are About to Become a Whole Lot More Flexible
If you've been managing a mixed smart home ecosystem and struggling to get your Philips Hue lighting to play nicely with all your devices, good news is on the horizon. Signify, the parent company behind the iconic Philips Hue brand, has announced that select Hue lights will soon be updated to support both Zigbee and Matter over Thread connections simultaneously. This is a significant step forward for smart home interoperability, and it could change the way millions of users experience their connected lighting setups.
For homeowners who have invested in diverse smart home hardware — whether that's Amazon Echo, Google Home, Apple HomeKit, or any other platform — this update means fewer compromises and far more control over how your bulbs connect and communicate. Let's break down exactly what's changing, why it matters, and what you should expect from the update rolling out later this year.
The Problem With Choosing Between Zigbee and Matter
To understand why this announcement is such a big deal, it helps to understand the limitation that currently exists. Philips Hue has long relied on Zigbee as its primary wireless communication protocol. Zigbee is a low-power, mesh-based wireless standard that works exceptionally well for smart lighting, allowing bulbs to communicate with each other and with a central hub — in Hue's case, the Hue Bridge.
In recent years, Matter has emerged as the new universal smart home standard, backed by major industry players including Apple, Google, Amazon, and Samsung. Matter over Thread is a version of the protocol designed specifically for low-power devices like smart bulbs, sensors, and locks, allowing them to connect directly to a broader ecosystem without relying on a proprietary hub.
Philips Hue already offers Matter support on select bulbs, which sounds great on paper. However, the catch has been that enabling Matter connectivity on a Hue light disables its Zigbee connection. That means users are forced to pick one or the other — and that's a frustrating either-or choice in a world where many smart homes rely on multiple standards running side by side.
What the New Update Actually Changes
Signify's announcement changes this dynamic entirely. The company has confirmed that bulbs with built-in Matter support will receive a software update later this year that enables both Zigbee and Matter over Thread to operate at the same time. Furthermore, future Philips Hue light releases will be built from the ground up to support both standards out of the box.
This means a single Hue bulb will be able to communicate via its existing Zigbee connection to the Hue Bridge while simultaneously being accessible through Matter over Thread to any compatible smart home controller — all without you having to configure, toggle, or sacrifice one connection for the other.
Signify is making this happen through a collaboration with Silicon Labs, a semiconductor company known for its expertise in wireless connectivity chips. Silicon Labs' technology enables the concurrent dual-protocol operation that makes this update possible, and the partnership signals that Signify is serious about keeping Philips Hue at the forefront of smart home compatibility.
Why This Matters for Your Smart Home
The practical benefits of this update are substantial, particularly for users who have built out complex smart home setups over the years. Here are some of the key advantages you can expect:
- No more choosing sides: You won't need to decide between staying in the Hue ecosystem via Zigbee or opening your lights up to Matter-compatible platforms. Both will work simultaneously, giving you access to the full range of Hue features while also enabling cross-platform automations.
- Better integration with third-party platforms: Matter is designed to work across Apple HomeKit, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and Samsung SmartThings. With concurrent support, your Hue lights will be natively accessible to all of these without losing their connection to the Hue app.
- Future-proofing your investment: As the smart home industry continues to shift toward Matter as a universal standard, having bulbs that support both protocols means your existing hardware won't become obsolete anytime soon.
- Simpler setup and management: For new users setting up a smart home from scratch, future Hue bulbs with built-in dual-protocol support will be far easier to configure without worrying about compatibility trade-offs.
Which Philips Hue Bulbs Will Receive the Update?
Signify has indicated that bulbs with existing built-in Matter support will be eligible for the update. If you're unsure whether your specific Hue lights qualify, it's worth checking the Philips Hue website or app for compatibility details once the update begins rolling out. The company has confirmed the rollout is expected later this year, though a specific date has not yet been announced.
Going forward, newly released Hue lights will support both Zigbee and Matter over Thread natively, meaning buyers won't need to worry about software updates to unlock dual-protocol functionality — it will simply be built in.
The Bigger Picture: Smart Home Interoperability Is Winning
This announcement from Signify is part of a broader trend in the smart home industry toward genuine interoperability. For years, smart home devices have been criticized for operating in silos — each brand locked into its own ecosystem, making it difficult and sometimes impossible to create a truly unified connected home. The rise of Matter was supposed to solve this, and while the standard has made significant progress, transitions like this one — where legacy protocols and new standards need to coexist — have created friction along the way.
Signify's move to support concurrent Zigbee and Matter over Thread is a practical acknowledgment that the transition to Matter won't happen overnight, and that customers need solutions that work with their existing setups today while also being ready for the future. It's a consumer-first approach that other smart home manufacturers would do well to follow.
Should You Buy Philips Hue Lights Now or Wait?
If you're already a Hue user with compatible Matter-enabled bulbs, the upcoming update is essentially free added functionality — there's nothing you need to do except wait for the software to arrive. If you're considering buying into the Hue ecosystem for the first time, it may be worth waiting slightly to see whether newly released models with native dual-protocol support become available, as they'll offer the most seamless experience from day one.
Either way, this update reinforces Philips Hue's position as one of the most capable and forward-thinking smart lighting brands on the market. With Zigbee reliability and Matter's universal compatibility working together, Hue bulbs are about to become the most versatile lights in your smart home arsenal.