How bright will the new Philips Hue bulbs be?

On Thursday I was able to give you a first preview: In autumn, Philips Hue will make its lamps a whole lot brighter. The sixth generation of the standard light bulb will then offer up to 1,100 lumens, previously 806 lumens were possible. There will also be an even brighter bulb with an E27 base that will offer up to 1,600 lumens.

But wait, there was something? Philips Hue already launched a Hue White with 1,600 lumens about a year ago. Exactly this model will soon also be available as White Ambiance and White and Color Ambiance.

However, you should not expect a doubling of the brightness in any case. In fact, the 1,600 lumens are only achieved with bright white tones. The most exciting question is how much the brightness will increase with colours. Two points in particular are already known: Colours are always less bright than whites and so far Philips Hue has always been at the forefront of colour brightness.

Heat development makes passive cooling necessary

You should also bear in mind that the bulbs with 1,600 lumens are about two centimetres larger than the conventional E27 lamps from Philips Hue. And there is a reason for this: the heat development due to the stronger and more closely arranged LEDs must be kept under control. And this happens with the particularly bright lamps with passive cooling.

The LED units are installed directly on a small metal plate, which in turn sits on a large metal bulb that fills the entire lower part of the lamp. Definitely a special feature in the Hue world and the explanation for the very high weight of the large lamps. By the way, nothing is left to chance: They even use heat-conducting paste between the metal elements.

In any case, at the launch of the new generation, I will compare the lamps with 806, 1,100 and 1,600 lumens – to see how the difference turns out under real conditions.