• Philips Hue accidentally leaked a new Pro TV lightstrip on its own website
• There are no details of its price or release date yet
• A new Philips Hue Play Sync camera is expected to launch soon

I love Philips Hue lights, and I particularly love Hue lightstrips — so I'm excited by an accidental leak that indicates a new Pro lightstrip is coming to your TV.

The leak was spotted by the excellent Hueblog, who discovered the following text on the US Hue website: "Check out Philips Hue Play gradient strip lights and Play gradient strip light pro." There isn't currently a gradient strip with the 'pro' suffix, so this appears to be a new product that's coming very soon.

I hope so, although I worry about the "pro" bit because that usually indicates a premium price. But if it uses the same tech as the spectacular Hue Omniglow lighting strip I reviewed earlier this year, it could be a stunning addition to your home cinema or gaming setup.

Philips Hue Play Gradient Strip Light Pro: what to expect

The Philips Hue Play system synchronizes your smart lights and bulbs, enabling you to change the lighting with music or to reflect what's going on in a game, TV show or movie. The Gradient Strip Light models are designed to go on the back of your TV and deliver a similar experience to an Ambilight TV, extending the colours from your screen onto the walls and ceiling.

I'm a huge fan of Hue Play – I've been using it since the first-gen Play Sync box was released in 2019 – but the individual LEDs are very visible. If the Pro version were to be closer to the Omniglow, which delivers seamless gradients without the LEDs being visible individually, that would be a great upgrade. Although I suspect it's likely to be pricey too: the Omniglow has an RRP of $139.99 / £119.99 / AU$279.99 for the 3m model.

At the moment details are non-existent, but we do know that Hue is getting some more Hue Play products imminently: the Hue Play Screen Sync TV camera is expected to launch very soon as a more affordable alternative to the clever but expensive Hue Play HDMI Sync Box 8K. As with the Sync Box it'll mirror your display to your smart lights and bulbs, but you won't need to connect any devices to do it as it'll simply watch what's on the TV.

• Philips is rumored to be launching a new camera-based Hue Sync device for its TV backlights
• It removes the need for a pricey Hue Play HDMI Sync Box
• The 'Sync Screen' would be the first camera for the Philips Hue Play system

Philips Hue could be working on a new device for syncing your TV’s color palette to your backlights, giving you another option for illuminating your entertainment setup

Fabian of Hue Blog attended an online presentation hosted by Philips, and spotted a new Hue Sync device with an integrated camera that looks strikingly similar to rival devices like the Nanoleaf 4D.

The new gadget could be called ‘Sync Screen’, and may be unveiled at IFA 2026 in September. We don't know how much it will cost yet, but considering Philips Hue is a premium brand, it's likely the new device will sit in a higher price bracket than its competitors.

Just like other camera-operated TV LED lights, Philips’ version mounts to the top of a TV or monitor, and captures the color movements of the movie, show, or game on the screen. This movement is then processed and synced with backlights mounted behind the display.

From the image shared by Hue Blog, it seems that the Philips Sync Screen camera will only have one lens, but will likely be a fish-eye one to capture your entire TV screen — just like those used by rival devices.

You will almost certainly still need a Philips Hue Bridge to link the lights and camera to one another, but because the system camera-operated, you won't need a Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box or Hue Sync TV app subscription, which could make it a more tempting proposition.

As mentioned, Philips isn’t the first smart home giant to offer TV lighting gadgets like this, which aim to make your TV and gaming experiences more immersive by extending the colors from the screen onto the surrounding walls.

In addition to the Nanoleaf 4D light strips, the Govee StarPal Pro and the more recent Govee TV Backlight 3 Pro models are all camera-operated — the latter having a dual-camera system to capture more of your TV screen or monitor.

Philips has had quite an eventful 2026 already. In March the company unveiled its new OLED TVs, which are also the first native models for Dolby Vision 2, as well as its beautiful yet expensive ceiling light that mimics natural daylight. We’re just a mere two months away from IFA 2026, and I think the best is yet to come.

Philips Hue is widely known as the best smart bulb brand, but if you're looking to get yourself kitted out with a full Hue setup from the main range, it'll cost you. You might have spotted the brand's Essential range — which looks very similar to the main lineup but comes in at a much more affordable price — and wondered where the compromise is. You can see an Essential bulb on the left of the image above, next to a main range bulb on the right.

This article is here to help you figure out whether the Philips Hue Essential range is right for you, or whether it's better to splurge on the original lineup. We've tested both, and you can get the full low-down on what we thought of the budget-friendly bulbs in our Philips Hue Essential series review. For a quick summary, though — plus links to buy — read on.

Philips Hue Essential bulbs: reasons to buy

Let's start with the good bits about the Philips Hue Essentials range. Here are the main benefits to know about:

✅ The performance is excellent: In her side-by-side tests with the main range, our Homes Editor Cat Ellis found "both were equally responsive, and produced colors that were identical to my naked eye when [she] switched between scenes". The Essential bulbs are based on a different color-matching technology to regular Hue lights, but Cat "had a hard time telling the difference".

✅ They're compatible with the full Hue ecosystem: The Essential bulbs will play nicely with any Hue gadgets you already have, making them a great way to extend your existing smart light setup.

✅ They're much cheaper than the main range: While prices vary depending on exactly which bulb you're buying, generally the Essential models come in around half the price of the main range.

Philips Hue Essential bulbs: reasons to avoid

So what about the downsides? These are the main compromises you'll be making if you opt for an Essential bulb:

❌ The white shades don't match the main range: Essential bulbs have a narrower white light range, which is an issue if you were hoping to add them into a room that already has bulbs from the main lineup.

❌ They can't dim as low: Essential bulbs can only dim to 2%, whereas the main range can go right down to 0.2%. If you want seriously muted lighting, you'll need to shell out a bit more and stick to the main range.

❌ They can't get as bright: Essential bulbs have a lower maximum brightness capacity — they can reach 803 lumens, whereas some of the standard White & Color Ambiance bulbs can hit 1,600 lumens. It's worth nothing that this spec varies by bulb; not all standard bulbs have a higher max brightness than their Essential counterpart.

Philips Hue Essential Starter kits

Most people getting started with a Philips Hue lighting setup will begin by purchasing a 'Starter kit', which bundles some bulbs, a Philips Hue Bridge, and occasionally a bonus Philips Hue accessory. A Bridge isn't essential, but it is a good idea if you want to maximize the potential of your bulbs. There are a few variations available, with different numbers and kinds of bulbs included; I've listed a selection here.

US starter kits

UK starter kits

Philips Hue Essential bulbs

If you already have a Bridge and are looking to extend your setup, or are planning on going without (basic bulb functions can be controlled via Bluetooth), you can buy individual or multipack bulbs. There's a massive range — I've just included a selection here.

Whichever bulb lineup you choose, you'll have to decide between Hue's three light types. White and color ambiance bulbs can emit any one of millions of RGB colors, including a wide range of different white tones. White bulbs emit a warm light at a set color temperature, and White ambiance bulbs can be set to any one of a massive range of cool to warm white lights.

US bulbs

UK bulbs

• A software update bricked Philips Hue Bridge Pro devices
• The bug required a very specific set of circumstances
• Philips Hue has promised free replacements to affected users

Over the last few weeks, reports have emerged of Philips Hue Bridge Pro smart home devices becoming bricked, and it looks like the culprit has now been identified. According to Philips Hue, the fault lay with a recent software update — but the company has won plaudits for what it's giving to customers in order to make amends.

The trouble started in late June when Philips Hue released software update 2071353020, which was intended to include “several small changes” that improved the product’s operations. Yet reports started flooding in that the update had caused people’s Hue Bridge Pro devices to fail and become completely unresponsive.

In a statement to Ars Technica, Philips Hue explained the very specific circumstances that caused the problem: “The issue affects users who disabled automatic software updates, remained on an older software version for an extended period, and then manually installed a firmware update after the update package had been stored on the Bridge for more than 10 days.”

As well as that, the spokesperson noted that “Our data shows fewer than 100 Philips Hue Bridge Pro devices have been impacted.”

Still, any disruption like this is a pain. If you’re affected, not only will you have to wait for a replacement to arrive, but you’ll also have to reconfigure your lights and settings from scratch. That’s the kind of disturbance that is made all the more irritating due to the fact that it occurred after users updated their software — something that people are often encouraged to do in order to get the latest bug fixes and improvements.

Free replacements

While it’s always unpleasant to see a software update brick your device, Philips Hue has attracted praise for the way it’s responded. Not only has it issued a fix, but the company has promised that “We will replace affected Philips Hue Bridge Pro devices free of charge, regardless of warranty status.”

The decision has proved popular with Hue owners on Reddit, who've noted in one popular thread that it's a rare example of "big company actually making good". Another comment noted: “Considering the RAM prices too those Bridges went up in costs too. W to Philips on this one.”

If you haven’t updated your Philips Hue Bridge Pro for a while and think your device could be vulnerable according to Philips Hue's description, it might be worth getting in touch with the company first before attempting to update. The last thing you want is a bricked product on your hands.

And if you already have been affected, don’t spring for a replacement device just yet. You might be able to get a free replacement from Philips Hue, so be sure to explore that avenue first before spending a dime on anything new.

Philips Hue bulbs are a hugely popular smart lighting solution, and with good reason. But if your setup consists only of Hue bulbs (and a hub), you're missing a trick. The brand makes a range of accessories that can make a major difference to how you use your smart lights, and most are very affordable too. I asked the TechRadar team for some of their favorite cheap smart home upgrades, and almost all the answers I got back were Philips Hue accessories, so I decided it was worthy of its own article.

Entertainment Editor Matt Bolton is a big fan of his Philips Hue Smart Button, a compact, simple, wireless switch. "I stuck the Smart Button on my wall next to my regular light switch, giving me a way to control just the lamps in my living room separate to the other lights," he says. "It's so nice and easy, and no rewiring needed."

Matt also makes use of the Philips Hue Smart Plugs, which can be used to integrate non-smart lights into your Hue ecosystem. "I use the Hue Plugs to add little lamps that are too small for Hue bulbs into my lighting setups," he says. "I also use it for my Christmas tree lights every year, so I can plug them in somewhere awkward, but I can still turn them on and off at will."

Senior News Editor Mark Wilson is a big fan of his Philips Hue Tap Dial Switch. This physical switch has four buttons and a dial, and can control nine different actions; it's a more complex alternative to the Smart Button. "I hate using my phone or voice controls for smart lights. My favorite feature is turning the dial to dim my Hue lights — it's so much better than tapping the buttons on other switches," says Mark. "It’s simple to use, while also being really versatile thanks to those four buttons, which can set scenes in different rooms."

Homes Editor Cat Ellis has a slightly different suggestion: if you're finding regular Hue bulbs too expensive, she recommends checking out the much cheaper Essential range. "I put a regular Philips Hue bulb and a Hue Essential bulb side-by-side in identical lamps, and it was almost impossible to tell the difference when shifting colors — I could only really notice a distinction when dialing down the brightness."

A smarter setup

• Aldi is launching a new outdoor lamp range
• Each lamp is solar-powered and comes in two styles with three color choices
• The cost just £4.99, making them an affordable way to give your garden a glow-up

We’re seeing more and more affordable tech gadgets appearing in the middle aisles of budget supermarkets these days — and if you’re looking to give your garden a summer makeover, Aldi just unveiled a new range of solar-powered garden lights.

The lineup, which goes on sale on July 9, consists of two styles of outdoor table lamp, mushroom-top and flat-top, both of which are available in three colors: black, mint, and beige, so you should be able to find a colour that fits in with your garden decor.

Each lamp costs just £4.99, making them an affordable way to give your garden a glow-up with Aldi proving once again that you don’t need to spend a lot of money on the best smart lights in order to brighten up your home and garden.

Aldi’s new lighting range isn't, of course, in the same ballpark as smart lights from the likes of Philips Hue or Govee. There’s no app and no controls to fiddle with, and because they’re solar powered, placing them in sunny spots in your garden will ensure they have enough juice to last through a whole evening of outdoor dining or partying.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from national treasure Nigella Lawson is that summer parties aren’t just about good food and drinks — the setting and decor are just as important, and lighting plays a big part in creating the perfect atmosphere.

It’s not only budget brands like Aldi that are jumping on the outdoor lighting bandwagon — if you want app-based features such as the option to change the colour of your lights, the big smart home brands are getting in on the act too.

Govee’s recently released smart string lights marked the brand’s first step into solar lighting costing £119.99. Though this is a little more pricey than the average solar-powered light , Philips stills takes the top spot on the price front — its own Festivia Smart Globe String Lights are one of our favorite garden gadgets for giving your outdoor space an instant lift.

Looking to get started with smart lighting? Philips Hue is probably the brand you're looking at. It's the most prominent name in this market, and with good reason: it makes high-quality and ultra-versatile smart lights, and offers a huge range of products to suit different needs.

Philips Hue lights can, however, be rather pricey — especially if you're looking to kit out several rooms at once. The Amazon Prime Day sales can be a really good opportunity to pick up some Hue kit at a more affordable price, and luckily there's one about to start. The event officially runs through June 23-26, but there are discounts popping up already — and a number of other big retailers are running their own rival sales at the same time.

Below you'll find an explainer on your different Philips Hue bulb options, plus the best deals I've spotted in each category, from Amazon and beyond.

Philips Hue starter kits

Philips Hue bulbs are available as part of 'Starter Kits', which include bulbs (in any of the three light categories detailed above) and a Hue Bridge. The Bridge is essentially the communication hub that all your smart lights connect to, and which unlocks the lights' full gamut of features.

A starter kit is designed to be the most straightforward way to get set up with smart lighting in your home, and will often also be the most cost-effective, too.

US deals

UK deals

Philips Hue bulbs

At the heart of the Philips Hue range are its light bulbs. It makes a wide range of shapes and styles — spotlights, candle-shaped or flattened-off, and regular bulb-shaped bulbs. Most are available in any of Philips Hue's main light categories: White, White ambiance, and White and color ambiance. They'll also be available with different connections to work with different light fittings; double-check your setup before buying.

US deals

UK deals

Philips Hue lamps

Philips Hue makes a selection of indoor and outdoor lamps. I say lamps, but it's really everything from spotlights to light bars to pendant lights, wall washers and wake-up lights — I'm essentially using this as a catch-all term for anything where the bulb and its casing are sold together.

US deals

UK deals

Philips Hue lightstrips

Another main category of Philips Hue light is the LED strip light. These are designed to sit behind your TV, under shelving or behind mirrors to enhance room features and create atmosphere. There are even options that are weatherproof, and can be used outside. You can purchase different lengths (some kinds can be trimmed further), and they have adhesive backing to enable you to simply stick them on a clean, flat surface.

US deals

UK deals

Philips Hue accessories

Finally, Philips Hue makes a selection of accessories to work with its lights. The key one is the Bridge — if you're just purchasing individual lights rather than a Starter kit, you might need to pick one of these up separately in order to unlock the full potential of your smart lighting setup. The brand also makes physical switches and buttons that offer a different way to access your lights' functions outside of the app.

US deals

UK deals

• New Hue Play lamps to expand your immersive lighting
• Upgraded candle bulbs with full-spectrum daylight and Matter compatibility
• New smart switches, including dimmer switches

My house is full of Philips Hue smart bulbs, motion detectors and various flavours of lightstrips, but one thing I haven't been able to do is integrate old-fashioned light fixtures into my hue setup – so for example if you've got a ceiling light that doesn't use the kind of bulbs that can be swapped out for Hue ones, you're out of luck. Or at least, you were. Hue now offers smart light switches that you can use to add non-smart lights to your Hue system.

There are two versions, the Hue Wired On/Off and the Hue Wired Dimmer. Simply swap them for the original light switches and you can then control the appropriate lighting with the Hue app or compatible voice assistants.

The big benefit here is that your non-smart lights can now be included in your Hue groups, and in timed or other triggered events – so for example my Hue setup turns on the living room lights when I'm arriving home after dark. And it's a boon for rooms such as kitchens where – and I'm speaking from experience here – swapping out multiple downlighter bulbs for Hue ones is ruinously expensive.

Just make sure that you put the right sort of switch for the kind of lighting you have: for example some older downlighters aren't designed to be dimmed and can start strobing if they don't get enough power, so you'd need the on/off switch rather than the dimmer for those.

More Play lamps to light up your living room

In addition to the smart switches there are three new models of Play lamps: the Hue Play table lamp, the Hue Play floor lamp compact, and the Hue Play floor lamp large.

The USP of these lamps is that they pair with either the Hue Play HDMI Sync Box or the Hue Sync TV and PC apps to synchronise your lighting with the on-screen action.

I really like the Hue Play system and use it with a lightstrip for TV, movies and gaming; it makes my TV look like an Ambilight one and it's particularly good fun with things like the sunsets in Horizon: Forbidden West, which filled my entire front room with reds and oranges. By adding floor and table lamps to the collection Hue's expanding the scope of a Hue Play system, with the potential to have immersive lighting across even really big rooms.

Last but not least, there are new versions of the Hue candle bulbs. The new version is 40% more energy efficient and as before they're designed to go into decorative lighting, chandeliers and wall sconces. The 2026 version features full-spectrum daylight that closely mimics natural daylight and can be turned into warm or bright tones depending on the time of day, your preferences and your Hue routines.

The new wall switches will be available in the Europe (including the UK) from June 2026. The Hue Play table and floor lamps and the new candle bulbs will also arrive this month, and will be available in North America and "selected other markets" too.

As ever with Hue there are multiple bundles for the bulbs and the price you pay per bulb gets less the more you buy. The prices for the new lamps and switches are:

• Philips Hue wired switch module 1P/2P: £39.99 / £69.99 (about $50 / $90 or AU$80 / AU$130)
• Philips Hue wired dimmer switch 1C: £52.99 (about $70 / AU$100)
• Philips Hue wired relay switch 1C/2C: £44.99 / £49.99 (about $60 / $70 or AU$90)
• Hue Play Table lamp: £69.99 (about $90 / AU$13).
• Hue Play Floor lamp compact: £124.99 (about $170 / AU$240)
• Hue Play Floor lamp large: GBP £129.99 (about $170 / AU$250)

And the price for the candle bulbs will be (W is white, WA is White Ambience and WCA is White and Colour ambience):

• Philips Hue W B39 1P/2P: £19.99 / £29.99 (about $30 / $40 or AU$40 / AU$60)
• Philips Hue WA B39 E14 1P/2P/3P: £29.99 / £44.99 / £59.99 (about $30 / $60 / $80 or AU$40 / AU$90 / AU$110.
• Philips Hue WCA B39 E14 1P/2P/3P: £54.99 / £94.99 / £139.99 (about $70 / $130 / $190 or AU$100 / AU$180 / AU$270

• Philips is launching a ceiling light that mimics the look of a real skylight
• It automatically adjusts daylight temperature as the day goes on
• The skylight looks very realistic, but lacks smart home support

Philips is one of our favorite home lighting brands, and it’s launching a new ceiling light that mimics daylight and creates the effect of a skylight — and it looks spectacular.

The Philips Skylight is designed to replicate natural lighting and outdoor environments indoors, using a blend of advanced LED and Philips’ NatureConnect technologies. Signify, Philips’ manufacturer, says the skylight is “inspired by the natural brightness, depth and rhythm of sunlight”.

It’s a great option for windowless rooms if the design of your roof doesn't allow you to fit a skylight, or you want to save yourself the hassle and expense of having one fitted.

Before now, Signify limited the Philips Skylight to professional settings (offices, medical environments, and so on), but now the ceiling light will be available for everyone when it launches later this month in most regions (Signify says the Skylight be available in the US in September).

The Philips Skylight comes in four models: the Philips Skylight Medium, Philips Skylight Large, Philips Skylight VitaUp Medium, and Philips Skylight VitaUp Large, with prices starting at 499.99 euros (about $580 / £430).

Each variant comes with a slim ceiling profile for mounting, a remote control, five preset lighting scenes, and Philips’ Day Rhythm tool which automatically adjusts color temperature and brightness throughout the day. All models have an IP44 rating, meaning the Philips Skylight can be fitted in bathrooms and other humid environments.

The VitaUp models come with an integrated UV-B module built to support the body’s natural vitamin D production indoors. This also includes a handful of safety measures, including automatic shut-off which happens after eight hours.

In images shared by Philips, the Skylight's outdoor light imitation looks surprisingly convincing, and there are obvious benefits for wellbeing. More people are spending more time indoors and out of natural daylight, so devices like this are becoming increasingly sought after.

However, despite its cleverness, the Philips Skylight is not a Hue product. Philips produces some of the best smart lights out there, but its new ceiling light doesn't offer smart connectivity. This means it doesn’t connect to Wi-Fi or work with Matter over Thread, so you can't integrate it into your existing smart home setup, and you’ll have to use the included remote to control it manually.

Given how impressive the Philips Skylight looks, and its price tag, that's a shame. Let's hope Philips adds smart home connectivity to a future version.

First, let's talk tech. If you're in the market to upgrade your TV for the occasion, we have a separate guide to how to choose a TV for the World Cup. Personally, though, when it comes to watch parties, I'm all about a projector. The Xgimi Mogo 4 and Mogo 3 Pro are both great options. They have built-in speakers, but if you want to beef up the sound, you could add in a Bluetooth desktop speaker like the Pebble Nova or Sonos Era 100.

To really amp up the festive atmosphere, you could add some smart lighting into the mix. Combine the Philips Hue Sync Box and Play Light Strip and the effects will match up to what's going on on screen, or string up some Govee Smart Outdoor String Lights, which can sync to sound.

Then it's time to get your refreshments sorted. With its two generously-sized drawers, the Ninja Double Stack air fryer is ideal for low-effort, large-scale catering. You can set it to automatically time the two baskets to finish cooking at the same time, and it'll switch itself off automatically when the food is done. That means there's no clock-watching needed, and you'll never have to sprint out of the room to turn the oven off when the on-screen competition is just heating up. The same brand's Woodfire electric pizza oven and Slushi cold drinks machine are also reliable winners when it comes to party catering.

Scroll down for more watch party picks for a top-tier international soccer season. And if you're confident you know who's going to take home the trophy this year, enter our TechRadar World Cup Members Club competition to be in with the chance of winning a $500 Amazon gift card, plus a year's Norton VPN subscription.

Watch party winners

• Camera-based so no sync box required
• TV sync and AI-based lighting designer
• From $89.99 / £89.99 (about AU$126)

If you fancy a Philips Hue-style lightstrip for your TV but don't want to splash out on a sync box or sacrifice lighting quality, Lepro may have just the strip for you. Its new STV1 lightstrip promises accurate color reproduction to extend your movie, show or game beyond the edge of your TV without complex installation or extra hardware.

I'm a big fan of lightstrips — I'm on my second Hue setup and use it daily for movies, TV shows and gaming — but the combination of a sync box and a lightstrip or other synchronized lighting isn't cheap. Lepro's approach is simpler and considerably less expensive, with the 55- to 65-inch version coming in at a very reasonable $89.99 / £89.99 (about AU$126).

The difference is that this is a camera-based system, and Lepro says it has key features that differentiate itself from other camera-based lighting strips.

Lepro STV1 lightstrip: is this the perfect accessory for your big-screen TV?

The STV1 has a two-in-one design that combines the camera and controller in a single device. The camera is a fisheye ultra-wide-angle lens with a very wide field of view – over 180 degrees – that enables it to capture color from screens up to 85 inches. Lepro says it responds up to 36% faster than similar camera-based setups.

If you've used fisheye lenses you'll know they distort shapes, but Lepro has thought of that. There's automatic distortion correction and zone mapping to get the captured image into the correct proportions, enabling the controller to deliver the right colors to the right parts of the lightstrip.

In addition to syncing with the on-screen action the STV1 can also listen to music, creating wave-like rhythm lighting rather than just flashing in time to the kick drum. It also comes with a prompt-based lighting designer that can turn your commands into lighting scenes to match whatever you plan to watch.

The STV1 comes in two sizes: 55 to 65 inches for $89.99 / £89.99, and 75 to 85 inches for $109.99. Both versions are on sale now directly from Lepro and from retailers including Amazon in the US, although at the moment only the 55-65 inch version is listed on Lepro's UK site.

I suspect this won't be as accurate as a Hue strip (or an Ambilight TV) but from the videos Lepro's given us it looks to be nice and responsive across a wide range of colors. I'm a big fan of synchronized lighting and this looks like a much more affordable alternative to more premium-priced products.

• Philips' new TV light sync box uses WiZ rather than Hue
• Includes 4K 120Hz passthrough, so you don't lose use of a key TV port
• £129 to £149 including lightstrip; US launch TBC

Signify has launched a new Philips HDMI sync box, but it's not for the Philips Hue range: it's part of the Philips Smart Lighting range, and uses smart technology from WiZ instead.

That's good news, because Hue is positioned as a premium product with prices to match, and Wiz is much cheaper. My Hue Play Sync Box, while excellent, is also very expensive: it had an official price of £299 / $349 at launch, although it's widely discounted now. The new sync box is £129 to £149.

The new product is called the Philips Smart Lighting HDMI Sync Box 2.1 and it comes with a bundled lightstrip in a choice of two sizes, one for TVs from 55 to 65 inches and one for TVs of 75 to 85 inches.

What's the difference between Philips Smart Lighting Sync and Hue Sync?

The Philips Smart Lighting HDMI 2.1 Sync Box isn't designed to work with any Hue system or the Hue app. It's a purely WiZ affair, and uses WiZ's app. The only thing that isn't WiZ is the branding, presumably because Philips has better brand cachet.

In terms of what the box offers, it's much the same as the Hue I love so much (or one of Philips' Ambilight TVs, which basically have a smart lightstrip built in). You connect it to your TV and it changes the lightstrip to match what's going on on screen, making the image feel larger and more immersive.

I particularly like mine when I'm gaming: playing Horizon: Forbidden West was spectacular with in-game sunsets.

Signify is also expanding the Philips Smart Lighting range with other products including gradient floor lights and bars, table lamps and multiple flexible strips, with models up to 20m long for the European market and in the UK, models with 5m lengths. All of these new products are much more affordable than the equivalent Hues, so for example the cheapest lightstrip will be £23.99.

The new products will all launch in the UK and Europe in June 2026. They'll be coming to other countries too, but launch dates and prices haven't been announced just yet.

• Philips Hue are getting a new Sports Live feature for the World Cup
• It will sync Hue smart lights to the action during games
• You don't need any extra hardware, just the lights and the Hue app

As a long-time Philips Hue user, and a big fan of this brand of smart lights, I'm looking forward to trying out a newly announced Sports Live feature during the World Cup — as long as it doesn't signal goals before they've actually happened.

Philips Hue lights have long been able to change color and brightness based on what's happening on a TV screen, but you need a compatible television or an HDMI Sync Box to get the feature. With Sports Live the lights change in real-time based on "live match data", with no additional hardware required.

That's according to the announcement from Philips Hue parent company Signify. Apparently the lights will shift for "key moments" such as goals, yellow cards, and red cards, during the soccer World Cup 2026.

"Easy to set up and in time for the world's biggest football event of the year, soccer at home has never felt so real," says Signify, though it sounds as though the feature is only going to be available for this one upcoming tournament, which starts on Thursday, June 11. That's a disappointment.

No spoilers please

It's also going to be interesting to see how this works. The live match data comes straight from the web to the Hue app, so presumably you'll need to tell the app when you've actually started watching it – and give your smart lights a heads up if you decide to pause or rewind the action at any point.

I don't want to be in a situation where my smart lights are flashing to tell me England have scored (or conceded, which is perhaps more likely), while the action on my TV screen is still several seconds behind.

"The system allows users to fine-tune timings to account for minor broadcasting delays," according to Signify. "If users choose to pause the action, lighting effects are also paused and — upon resuming — sync to current, live match events for a consistent and accurate real-time experience."

Sports Live will support an unlimited number of smart lights apparently, and there will be a certain level of customization on offer: you'll be able to select your favorite team, and its main strip color will be used as part of the suite of smart lighting effects.

IKEA Varmblixt LED lamp: two-minute review

IKEA's color-shifting Varmblixt smart lamp, with its donut-shaped frosted glass diffuser, makes a striking focal point. It's easy to operate using the switch included in the box, and it casts a soft glow whether you use it on a table or mounted on a wall.

The Varmblixt was designed by Dutch artist Sabine Marcelis and comes with a preset palette of pastel hues designed to complement its curves. Pressing the button on its remote once will turn it on, and double-pressing will switch to the next shade in the sequence.

This works well straight out of the box (and handing it to visitors so they can change the mood lighting during dinner is fun), but the Varmblixt really comes into its own when used with the IKEA Home Smart mobile app. This lets you choose from a much larger range of colors, adjust the lamp's brightness, and link it to other IKEA smart devices such as motion sensors and scroll wheel switches.

You can even incorporate it into a mix-and-match smart home setup using the Matter protocol. To do this, you'll need IKEA's Dirigera smart hub, so be prepared for that extra expense if you want to use the Varmblixt's smart capabilities.

Connecting the Varmblixt to the Home Smart app wasn't quite as straightforward as it should have been and involved some trial and error. You should be able to link any IKEA smart home device by scanning the QR code on the item or its packaging, but the app failed to connect to the Varmblixt (or the Bilresa switches I later used to control it).

I eventually found that I could get around the problem by waiting for the connection failure notification to appear in the app, then selecting the option to connect without Bluetooth. The lamp and switches were then linked to the app without a hitch.

Once your devices are linked, IKEA's app is extremely simple to use and is a good introduction to smart home tech. Unlike the Philips Hue app, which gives you granular control over every switch and light in your home, linking a device to IKEA Home Smart works immediately, with a limited but useful set of options.

Once you've linked the Varmblixt lamp, you'll find that you can pick from a much broader palette of colors, although the hues selected by Sabine Marcelis are highlighted so you can find them easily. Alternatively, you can use a color wheel to choose the shade you want.

The lamp doesn't offer as many colors as a Philips Hue White & Color Ambiance bulb, but its smooth shape and frosted diffuser mean it's effective at setting a mood with indirect lighting.

You can even set the Varmblixt to change colors on a schedule. The default 'adaptive' option changes the light temperature during the day, so it becomes cooler during working hours and warmer in the evening when you want to unwind, but it's also possible to create your own timed color changes.

When you connect a controller to the Varmblixt, there's no need to spend time configuring what each button should do; again, it works right away. When I linked it to a Bilresa dimmer switch, I found that the wheel was pre-programmed to control the light's brightness.

Overall, the IKEA Varmblixt lamp is a pleasure to use, and a real conversation-starter when you have guests. App setup can be a bit fiddly and requires IKEA's smart home hub, but it works very well with the remote alone.

• Performance score: 4/5

IKEA Varmblixt LED lamp: price and availability

IKEA first showed the Varmblixt smart lamp at the CES tech show in January 2026, and the donut-shaped light went on sale in the US and Europe in March of the same year. It's not available in Australia at the time of writing, but it might be released more widely later in 2026.

It's priced at $99 / £55 (about AU$140), which is about standard for a color-changing smart lamp without additional features like music or media synchronizing. For example, the Govee Table Lamp 2 is $69.99 / £69.99 (about AU$100).

However, if you want to use the smart functions and choose from a wider array of colors, you'll also need IKEA's Dirigera smart hub, which costs an additional $109 / £70 / AU$129, so you'll need to be sure that you want to invest in IKEA's wider smart home system first.

• Value score: 4/5

IKEA Varmblixt LED lamp: design

This is a new take on the original donut-shaped Varmblixt lamp, which was released in 2022. This lamp (also designed by Sabine Marcellis) had a glossy orange surface that cast warm light into the room. The 2026 Varmblixt replaces this with a white frosted glass diffuser and cycles through a palette of pastel colors selected by the designer.

The Varmblixt lamp has a flat base so you can use it on a table, and a hole in the backplate so you can mount it on a wall (though be aware that it's a wired lamp, so you'll need to place it near an electrical outlet).

The lamp is wired and is supplied with one of IKEA's standard Bilresa remote controls, which takes two AAA batteries (not included).

• Design score: 5/5

Should you buy the IKEA Varmblixt LED lamp?

Buy it if

Don't buy it if

IKEA Varmblixt LED lamp: also consider

How I tested the IKEA Varmblixt LED lamp

I tested the Varmblixt lamp with the remote control included in the box, switching between all the preset colors, and then connected it to the IKEA Home Smart app using a Dirigera hub. I used all the color and scheduling options in the app, comparing it with a Philips Hue Wall Washer lamp. I also tried controlling the lamp using an IKEA Bilresa dimmer switch with a scroll wheel.

First tested April 2026

There's a new statement piece in my living room — one that grabs everyone's attention when they visit — and nobody ever guesses it's from IKEA. The new smart version of the Varmblixt LED lamp launched earlier this year, and is a guaranteed conversation-starter that costs only $99.99 / £55.

The donut-shaped lamp can be placed on a table or mounted on a wall, where its frosted glass diffuser casts a soft halo of light. It was designed by artist Sabine Marcelis, who also picked out a palette of pastel shades to suit its soft curves.

You can switch between these colors by simply double-clicking a button on the remote control supplied in the box — and it's fun handing the controller to friends and seeing their smiles and the light shifts from one subtle shade to the next.

Want more options? If you have IKEA's Dirigera hub, you can control the Varmblixt through the IKEA Home Smart app, which gives you access to a full spectrum of colors, lets you set the light color to change on a schedule, and allows you to link it to other devices, including sensors and switches.

If you're feeling really adventurous, you can even control it using Apple HomeKit or Google Home — and this week, IKEA added support for SmartThings, so you can operate your Varmblixt and other devices through your Samsung smart TV.

Some people have reported problems connecting the Varmblixt lamp to the app, and there appears to be a bug when trying to link it via Bluetooth. Choose the option to connect without Bluetooth, however, and it should work perfectly.

What makes IKEA's app so special is its simplicity. I'm a fan of Philips Hue lights, but I'll admit that they can be time-consuming to set up, particularly if you want to use switches and sensors. IKEA's smart home system makes things a lot easier because you don't need to program the switch and decide which button should do what. Just follow the on-screen instructions to link the switch to the lamp, and it just works.

I've also used the lamp with one of IKEA's Bilresa smart switches, which have a large dial that you can turn with your thumb or press like a button. When connected to the Varmblixt lamp, double-pressing this dial changes the light color, and rotating it adjusts its brightness. Again, there's no complicated setup necessary.

Having used the Varmblixt lamp for a while, I think it looks most striking when mounted on a wall, and you can have it up and running in a couple of minutes. It's given a relatively dull room a whole new look, and I can't wait to have more people round to show it off.

Philips Hue Omniglow: one-minute review

The Philips Hue Omniglow is the best Hue lightstrip yet. It's a classier kind of LED strip: where other models have visible LEDs, the Omniglow delivers seamless color gradients and smoothly moving light effects. The results are very impressive and the Hue app makes it easy to select, edit or create scenes either solo or as part of a wider Hue setup. If you've already got a Hue system you can add it in seconds and then include it in your scenes and automations. As with other Hue lights you'll need a Philips Hue Bridge or Bridge Pro to access advanced features such as custom scenes and smart home integration.

The Omniglow is easy to install and set up, although if you're mounting it up high you might curse the short power cable. The only real downside is the length: you can shorten the Omniglow but not extend it, and longer versions are not widely available in the UK or US. While European customers can choose between 3m, 5m and 10m models, the US and UK are currently limited to the 3m model only.

Philips Hue Omniglow: price and availability

• On sale from November 2025
• $139.99 / £119.99 / AU$279.99 (3m)

The Philips Hue Omniglow was announced in September 2025 and went on sale in November 2025. There are three sizes, but only the 3m model is available everywhere. That has a recommended price tag of $139.99 / £119.99 / €139.99 / AU$279.99.

Europe and Australia also get a longer 5m version, which costs €199.99 / AU$399. And in Europe there's a 10m version with a price tag of $349.99. The same 10m version was listed with a UK price of £349.99 but at the time of writing it's showing as as "not currently available" on the Philips website.

Philips Hue Omniglow: design

• RGB, warm white and cool white
• Seamless color and gradients
• Cuttable but not extendable

The Omniglow is a RGBWWIC design, which means it combines RGB, warm white, cool white and independent control in a single light source. Unlike other Hue lightstrips you can't see the individual LEDs; it's designed to deliver seamless whites, colors and gradients, which it does very well. That makes it look much more classy than lesser lightstrips.

The strip is 17mm wide and 8.5mm high and consists of multiple 12.5cm sections, each of which has 6 LEDs that can be individually controlled – so you can get twinkly lights and motion effects as well as solid color and gradients.

This lightstrip can be cut shorter at pre-defined 12.5cm spaces but any bit you remove can't be re-used or replaced later. Unlike previous Hue lightstrips the Omniglow can't be (officially) extended with additional sections, although inevitably some Hue fans have come up with warranty-voiding DIY solutions.

There are double-sided adhesive strips along the full length of the Omniglow, but you may want to use something more permanent if you're putting the strip in a place where it'll have to battle gravity; in my experience the adhesive that comes with Hue strips tends to be rather weak, and this lightstrip is quite heavy. The power supply is also very short, with just over 1m between the plug socket and the beginning of your lightstrip, and you're going to want to support the weight of the power brick.

Design score: 4/5

Hue Omniglow review: features

• Three-stage gradients
• Moving and flickering lights
• Great integration with other Hue lights

The Omniglow delivers the promised seamless gradients, and it also brings a feature across from the Festivia string lights in the form of moving lights. That enables you to pick a moving scene such as a fireplace, candle glow or looped color change, and you can tweak those scenes in the Hue app to adjust their speed or intensity. It's very smooth and very impressive.

The app offers very basic control via Bluetooth but for access to advanced features such as syncing and smart home integration you'll need a Hue Bridge or Hue Bridge Pro. That gives you the full range of customization, per-light settings and the ability to create your own custom moving gradients and flickering effects.

Features score: 5/5

Philips Hue Omniglow: performance

• Up to 2,700 lumens
• Seamless color
• Beautifully smooth transitions

If you're familiar with Hue lightstrips the first thing you'll notice about the Omniglow is how bright it is. It's much brighter than standard Hue lightstrips, delivering up to 2,700 lumens of brightness compared to the 1,700 lumens of a Hue Solo of the same length.

If you can get the 5m or 10m models they are more powerful still, putting out up to 4,500 lumens. That means the Omniglow isn't just a decorative lightstrip. You can also use it to illuminate spaces such as stairs or feature walls.

Performance score: 5/5

Philips Hue Omniglow: should you buy it?

Buy it if

Don't buy it if

Philips Hue Omniglow: also consider

There are multiple lightstrips for Hue, some of them much more affordable – so for example the Hue Gradient Lightstrip is much cheaper. Govee is the main rival in this space with very affordable products including the bendable, cuttable COB Strip Light Pro, the very cheap RGBIC LED Strip and several rope light models.

How I tested the Philips Hue Omniglow

I've been all-in on Hue lights for more than a decade, and my home currently features a mix of smart lights including two Hue gradient lightstrips, various Hue bulbs, a Hue motion sensor and Hue Festavia string lights, all controlled via the Hue app, Apple Home and Siri. I added the Omniglow to my living room setup and Hue Bridge and used it as both decorative lighting and functional lighting, controlling it alongside my existing lights and scenes.

First reviewed March 2026

This year, one of the biggest sleep trends is ‘dark showering’ — turning down the lights while bathing in the evening to get your body and mind ready to rest. The idea isn’t brand new, but as the seasons change and nights get shorter in the northern hemisphere, it makes sense that people are trying to optimize their bedtimes.

As the Guardian explains, the idea is to block out distractions, calm your nervous system, and practice mindfulness before bed. According to sleep scientists, it can have real benefits, with warm water reducing your core body temperature and low light signaling that it’s time to get ready to sleep, causing the release of melatonin.

If you want to try dark showering (or bathing if you prefer the tub), smart lights are a good way to do it. You can schedule them to dim to help you get into a regular routine, and set the brightness so you’re still safe in the bathroom.

That’s not the only way lighting can help you get a better night’s rest, though. I asked an expert from Signify — the company behind Philips Hue and WiZ smart lights — for some recommendations to help you get more out of your smart lamps and bulbs in the evening, and again in the morning when it’s time to rise and shine.

“Light is one of the most important environmental signals influencing the body’s internal clock, also known as the circadian rhythm,” said Signify’s spokesperson. “This biological system helps regulate sleep–wake cycles and responds strongly to changes in light throughout the day.

“Exposure to brighter and cooler-toned light in the evening can delay the body’s natural transition toward sleep, while lower light levels and warmer tones are generally associated with more relaxing environments before bedtime.

“Because of this, we recommend reducing brightness and using warmer light settings during the evening hours. These lighting conditions resemble the natural decrease in daylight after sunset and can help create a calmer atmosphere that supports bedtime routines.

Smart sunsets

I’ve tested a lot of sleep tech over the years, and I’ve found wake-up lamps are particularly tricky to get right. Ideally, the light shouldn’t wake you the moment it comes on; instead, it should brighten very gradually, like dawn through the canvas when you’re camping.

In my experience, many of them simply can’t dim low enough to wake me gently. Worse still are the lights with ‘nature’ sounds that are looping snippets of audio — usually only a few seconds long - that sound horribly compressed. It’s not a great way to start the day.

If you're on a budget, the Beurer Wake Up Light WL50 is a good option. It offers a broad spectrum of light temperatures, meaning it can wake you with warm light that gradually brightens and then cools, and it dims lower than most other lights in its price bracket (under $100 / £70 / AU$150).

I recommend skipping its wake-up noises, but it doubles as a radio and Bluetooth speaker, so you can connect it to your phone and wake up to your chosen music as a backup in case the light alone isn't enough to rouse you.

The lamp that’s working for me right now is the Philips Hue Play Wall Washer, which casts indirect light by shining onto a wall rather than directly into the room, and offers extremely low dimming. If you also want a light that can double as a reading lamp, the Philips Hue Twilight could be the one for you. It’s not quite as versatile as the Wall Washer (it can’t be connected to a Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box and used as part of an entertainment system, for example), but it provides you with focused white light that lets you enjoy a few pages of your favorite book before turning in for the night.

The Philips Hue app provides sunrise and sunset automations that can be triggered at a specific time or upon a particular event. I wake up at the same time most days, so the sunrise is on a timer, but bedtimes can vary, so the ‘Go to sleep’ automation is triggered by a smart switch attached to my bedside table.

“By allowing Philips Hue users to schedule gradual light transitions in the evening and morning, the system helps create consistent daily lighting routines that align more closely with natural light patterns,” explains Signify’s spokesperson.

If you want to get creative with your lighting, Google Home and Alexa+ let you describe the type of lighting you want using natural language — so you could ask for soft evening light, or a dim glow for your night time shower routine, whichever smart lights you own.

• The IKEA Skaftsärv is an LED gradient light costing $6.99 / £4 (about AU$8)
• It looks similar to the Philips Hue Play Gradient Light Bar, but can't mirror colors from a TV screen
• The WiZ Gradient Light Bar is an affordable alternative that can sync to a TV

IKEA has just launched a new lamp that looks strikingly similar to a popular Philips Hue light, but at a tiny fraction of the price. The IKEA Skaftsärv is available in the UK for just $6.99 / £4 (about AU$8), and each one has three lighting zones that can cast a colorful glow onto your walls or shine into the room.

As our colleagues at T3 note, it bears an uncanny resemblance to the Philips Hue Play Light Bar, and if you like the idea of making your home cinema system more immersive but have been put off by the price tag, you might be tempted to snag a pair of Skaftsärvs instead — but there's something you should know first.

Although the Skaftsärv can shift colors in response to music, and is dimmable, there's no way to connect it to your TV or PC monitor to extend the colors from the screen. It's impressive considering how little it costs, but it's only a decorative lamp, not a smart light.

By contrast, the Philips Hue Play Light Bar can be used to add ambience to a room, or to create an Amblight-style effect around and behind your TV when connected to a Philips Hue HDMI Sync Box. Up to three Light Bars can be connected to the same power supply.

You can control your Light Bars via the Philips Hue app, and like all Philips Hue devices, they are compatible with all the major smart home ecosystems so you can operate them with voice commands, connect them to your other smart devices, and use them in automations. Take a look at our Philips Hue Play Light Bar review to find out more.

Lighting for less

If the Philips Hue light is outside your budget, but you want something that will provide a similar experience, take a look at the WiZ Gradient Light Bars, which cost just $59.99 / £54.99, and work in a very similar way when linked to a WiZ HDMI Sync Box.

Although they use different technologies, both Philips Hue and WiZ smart lights are made by the same company (Signify), so you can be confident that you're getting good quality. In fact, our reviewer Abigail Shannon gave the WiZ Gradient Light Bars a near-perfect four and a half stars out of five thanks to their ease of use, versatility, and smooth color gradient. Check out our full WiZ Gradient Light Bars review for more details.

Thinking of freshening up your home this spring? Good news — IKEA has just launched a huge spring sale with enormous savings on storage, decor, and lighting. As TechRadar's Homes Editor, I've browsed through all the offers on lights and lamps to bring you my pick of the very best bargains.

It's a particularly good time to get started with smart lighting, with deep discounts on IKEA's already cheap smart switches (which you can use to control its smart bulbs), plus smart plugs (which let you control your existing lights remotely).

Fancy something fun? There are also great savings on battery-powered string lights for both indoors and out, which would look charming draped over a cabinet, or help set the mood when you're entertaining outside as the weather gets warmer.

Take a look at my top sale picks below, or browse the whole IKEA spring sale yourself. Can't see quite what you want? Check out my complete roundup of the best smart lights for more illuminating ideas.

Epic lighting deals at IKEA

Philips Hue is the biggest name in smart lights, and for good reason. Not only are its lights themselves well-made, they're also available in a huge choice of shapes and styles, are easy to use, and are super versatile. The only sticking point is that they can be pretty expensive — but not right now! Amazon is holding a huge spring sale this week, and has knocked up to 34% off all kinds of Hue bulbs, light strips, and starter kits.

Personally, I'm a huge fan of the Philips Hue Essential series, which is a collection of bulbs and LED strips that are cheaper than standard Hue lights, with only slightly lower specs. They're fantastic value, and with these offers at Amazon, I'm going to take the opportunity to stock up.

If you're new to Hue, this is the perfect time to grab a cheap Philips Hue Starter Kit. Each of these includes a pack of smart bulbs and a Philips Hue Bridge hub to connect them together — sometimes with a smart switch or button thrown in as well. They're the perfect way to start your smart lighting journey.

Philips Hue Essential deals

Philips Hue Starter Kits

Philips Hue LED strips

If you can't see a light here that quite suits your needs, take a look at my complete guide to the best smart lights, where you'll find an array of bulbs, lamps, and string lights to suit every room in your house – all tested and recommended by me and my army of smart home tech experts.

It's hard to overstate the usefulness of smart lights, and once you have one at home, you'll start to see dozens of different ways to use it— from simply creating a schedule to changing the light temperature to suit the time of day, or even making it blink when someone presses your doorbell.

Smart lights don't have to be expensive either. Sure, outfitting your whole home with top-end Philips Hue color bulbs would be an expensive endeavor, but that's not your only option. There are (literally) brilliant bulbs from other brands that offer impressive features and quality for much less cash, and even Philips has a collection of lights at an entry-level price these days.

Below you'll find the top three smart light bulbs I recommend for your home. I've opted for Hue Essentials in my own apartment, but I'd happily fit either of the other options as well — particularly if I was in a party mood.

Best cverall

Philips Hue Essential

Philips Hue is the biggest name in smart lighting, and has sat at the top of our roundup of the best smart light systems for years, but it's always had one significant drawback: it's expensive. That's where Philips Hue Essential comes in.

Hue Essential, which launched last year, is a more affordable alternative to the standard Philips Hue White & Color Ambiance series, with fewer bulb options and a much lower price tag. You don't get to pick from such a huge array of sizes and styles (at launch, there were only three bulbs and a light strip available), but during my tests, I was thoroughly impressed by how well they performed compared to their full-price counterparts.

Like regular Hue bulbs, Hue Essential lights can be controlled individually via Bluetooth, or through the Philips Hue app. Using the app unlocks a lot more features, including the ability to assign a set of bulbs to a particular room or area and control them together, create automations, apply Scenes (themed color palettes) and link them to other devices such as sensors and switches.

The more advanced features also require a Philips Hue Bridge, which is an extra expense you'll need to consider when budgeting for your new smart lighting system, but it's worthwhile if you're adding them to more than one room, particularly since it also allows you to connect your lights to virtually any smart home ecosystem.

Colors are bright and bold, and in my tests, the Hue Essential bulb proved just as responsive as a White & Color Ambiance bulb costing twice as much. The two bulbs use different color technologies. meaning the more expensive bulb offers a wider palette, but in everyday use, you'll be hard-pressed to tell the difference.

The only real downside of choosing Hue Essential bulbs is that they can't be dimmed quite as low as regular Hue bulbs. That won't matter for most situations, but if you want to use your smart lights to wake you gently in the morning, or for subtle lighting in your home theater, the more expensive bulbs may be the better option.

For everything else, though, Hue Essential bulbs offer a staggering array of features, excellent quality, a well-designed app, and the most extensive compatibility of any smart lights you can buy today.

Read our full Philips Hue Essential review

Party lighting

GE Cync Lighting Dynamic Effects

Philips Hue Essential lights are excellent, but GE Cync Lighting Dynamic Effects bulbs offer something Hue ones don't: the ability to assign multiple colors to a single bulb so you can set the mood with just one light. Better yet, these party-ready smart lights can shift their multiple colors in response to music without the need for extra sensors and accessories. It's a party on your ceiling, and everyone's invited.

"The dynamic effects available here are a treat, especially the ones that respond to audio, and set it apart from the competition," said our reviewer, James Holland. "Get enough of these, and you could probably throw your own rave."

These bulbs link directly to Wi-Fi, so unlike Philips Hue lights (which use the Zigbee wireless protocol), there's no need for a hub to use all their features. If you're planning to equip your whole house with smart lights, then a Zigbee mesh network makes more sense (each light effectively acts as a repeater, giving more range), but if you just want fun lighting for one or two rooms, Wi-Fi will be fine.

During testing, we found GE's bulbs refreshingly simple to connect, and the accompanying Cync app is much better designed than many others we've tried over the years.

"The GE Cync Lighting Dynamic Effects bulb might be a little spendy compared to other models, but its connectivity is rock solid," said James. "In fact, the closest I‘ve had to any issue is a second or two of lag when turning off through the app, but that’s only if the light’s been on for a while."

Want to take the party further? There are also Dynamic effects wall light panels, LED strips, and string lights so you can design a setup to suit your room. These bulbs aren't widely available outside the US though, so if you want to have fun with smart lighting elsewhere, scroll on for my next recommendation.

Read our full GE Cync Lighting Dynamic Effects review

Budget

Nanoleaf Matter Essentials

Nanoleaf has carved a niche for itself in smart lighting for gamers. If you want an illuminated pegboard to hold your headphones and controllers, flexible rope lights that sync with the on-screen action, or stackable light-up storage cubes to show off your collectibles, Nanoleaf has you covered.

It does have a more sensible side, though, including some excellent smart light bulbs that are particularly bright and bold, and are great paired with Nanoleaf's decorative lighting or used alone.

As you can tell from the name, these particular bulbs are Matter-compatible, meaning you can use them as part of a mix-and-match smart home comprising devices from different brands — a significant advantage over many similarly-priced smart bulbs.

We experienced a few connectivity hiccups during setup, but once we got our Nanoleaf bulbs set up, we were very impressed. We particularly liked the way you can easily sync your Nanoleaf bulbs with what's happening on your screen, and the Circadian Lighting feature, which changes the color temperature and brightness throughout the day to help you feel energized when it's time to work, and wind down in the evening. Creating custom color scenes is a breeze, too (and you can even share them with other Nanoleaf users if you're feeling generous).

Like the Hue Essential series, Nanoleaf's budget bulbs don't give you a huge range of shapes and styles to choose from — there's a screw fitting, bayonet fitting, spotlight for recessed ceiling lights, and that's it — but the fact that you can use them with any major smart home platform opens up a world of options if you want to extend your smart lighting further.

Read our full Nanoleaf Matter Essentials review

• The hugely popular IKEA Varmblixt smart lamp has been spotted in stores
• It features frosted glass, shifting colors, and smart home compatibility
• It's scheduled for an April release, but some shoppers have found it already

IKEA's donut-shaped Varmblixt smart lamp was a surprise highlight of this year's CES technology show, and although the company said it would have its official launch in April, it seems some stores have jumped the gun and started stocking their shelves early. The lamp has also appeared on IKEA's Swedish website, where it's described as "a magical sight that catches the eye" — and we're inclined to agree.

The lamp is an updated version of the original Varmblixt LED lamp, which launched in 2022. The classic lamp has a glossy orange finish to fill your room with a warm glow, but it's now had a makeover with softly shifting pastel colors, a frosted finish, and Matter compatibility so you can integrate it with your smart home.

TechRadar's Editor-at-Large Lance Ulanoff got his hands on the new lamp on the show floor, and couldn't stop thinking about it afterwards.

"With each press of the remote, I watched as the color shifted almost imperceptibly, then slowly transitioned to the new, fully-dimmable hue," he wrote after experiencing it in person. "Not only that, but the color diffusion under the molded glass is near perfect. It's simply beautiful to watch, and I loved basking in the glow."

He imagined owning one, calling it a "marriage of hue and form", and it seems that dream might not be too far off. As German site Notebookcheck reports, some shoppers have already spotted the redesigned lamp in their local stores — and posted photo evidence to prove it.

Like its predecessor, the new Varmblixt is a collaboration with Dutch artist and designer Sabine Marcelis, who is known for her use of pastel colors, light, and geometric shapes.

Unlike most smart lights, which let you pick any color on the spectrum, the Varmblixt lamp shifts between a limited palette of hues hand-picked by Marcellis to complement its shape. You can move smoothly between these colors using a remote control, or connect it to the IKEA app to open up a wider selection of 40 shades, but that's entirely optional.

"Most people won't buy this updated Varmblixt because they want a smart device but because it’s a beautiful lamp, where you can change the atmosphere of a room with a click of a button," David Granath, Range Manager for Lighting and Home Electronics at IKEA of Sweden, told TechRadar in an exclusive interview last month.

The lamp hasn't yet been spotted outside continental Europe, but we'll certainly be keeping our eyes open next time we're browsing the shelves. It's listed for 699 Krona on IKEA's Swedish site, and is set to cost $99 in the US, so we'll be tempted to grab more than one.

• The IKEA Ankarlägg is a new battery-operated, motion-sensitive light
• It's fully wireless and self-adhesive, so you can use it anywhere
• It has a battery life of around six months, and doesn't need a smart hub

IKEA has just launched a new motion-sensitive light, which you can stick anywhere and doesn't require a smart home hub to work. The IKEA Ankarlägg (which is shaped like a cartoon light bulb) can illuminate your hallway when you come home, your bedroom if you need to get up in the night, or a closet when you open the door.

The Ankarlägg is cheap, too. As German site Notebookcheck reports, it costs €2.99 in continental Europe, and will hopefully launch in other territories soon. If it follows IKEA's usual international pricing, we can expect it to be around $7 / £4 / AU$5 when it rolls out globally. That's a lot less than a typical smart light bulb and motion sensor bundle, which can easily cost four times as much.

It's more versatile than a lot of other lights and sensors as well. According to IKEA's French website (translated by Google), "this lamp can be installed anywhere because it runs on batteries and requires no wiring." Instead, it has a self-adhesive backing that lets you mount it on any flat surface.

The Ankarlägg light switches off if there's no motion detected for 30 seconds, which helps to conserve power. According to IKEA, it has a battery life of around six months if it's triggered 10 times per day.

No hub necessary

IKEA is making a name for itself in affordable smart home tech, with products like the Bilresa remote control kit, Timmerflotte temperature sensor, and Myggspray wireless motion sensor all promising to automate your home for a bargain price.

However, although IKEA's controllers are cheap, they only work when connected to a Thread hub, which can be a considerable expense. IKEA recommends its own Dirigera hub, which costs $109 / £60 (and isn't yet available in Australia). That's much pricier than a Philips Hue Bridge, which unlocks the world of Hue bulbs and sensors.

The Ankarlägg is a simple device, but hopefully we'll see more standalone devices in future that are great value and don't rely on extra, more expensive accessories to access their full functionality.

• The Philips Hue Lucca lights are tipped to get an upgrade
• These models are set to get brighter and more colorful
• At the moment, prices and launch dates aren't clear

In recent weeks we've seen Philips Hue upgrade some of its existing products, like its Hue Flourish lamp. And it looks like another refresh is on the way for the Lucca series of products, which comprises a wall light, a path light, and a pedestal light.

According to the usually reliable Hueblog (via Notebookcheck), the Lucca lamps are getting a bulb upgrade. These products will soon be fitted with the E27 smart bulb, just about the best that Philips Hue makes at the moment.

Not only will that boost the maximum brightness of these devices from around 800 lumens to around 1,100 lumens, it will also enable a wider range of color effects. Some of the current Lucca models only offer white lighting, but the bulb upgrade should put these devices among the best Philips Hue lights out there.

It seems as though the rest of these products will be unchanged – specifically the design and dimensions. Philips Hue is just upgrading the bulb that's fitted inside, which is after all the most important component in a smart light.

Pricing to be confirmed

At the moment it's not clear if this is going to affect pricing, and we don't know when the refresh is actually going to happen either. Given that the update has now leaked, however, it shouldn't be too long before its made official.

The availability of the current Lucca series seems to be rather limited right now: the Philips Hue US store only has the wall light on sale for $109.99, while the UK store has the wall light for £89.99 and the pedestal light for £114.99. None of the products are showing up on the official Australia store at the time of writing.

That's another indication that a refresh is on the way, together with the previously rumored updates for the Turaco lights and the Flourish table lamp – all getting a boost from the same E27 Philips Hue bulb.

Meanwhile, the Philips Hue Bridge and Bridge Pro hubs continue to get updated with new and improved features, including easier access to automations. Note that you need a Bridge or Bridge Pro in order to make use of the Lucca lights.

Philips Hue bulbs and lamps are among the best smart lights around, and there's a dizzying array to choose from. As TechRadar's smart home tech editor, I've had my hands (and eyes) on all of the main products, and have put together this guide to help you decide which ones are right for you.

If you're new to the world of smart lights and just want to try replacing a few of your existing bulbs, I recommend the Philips Hue Essential series. These are entry-level versions of the brand's standard color-shifting smart bulbs, and are much more affordable. If you want to add ambience to a room or create an Ambilight-style home-theater effect without the hassle of fitting light strips behind your TV, I recommend the Philips Hue Wall Washer, and if you want string lights that will be fun and functional throughout the holidays and beyond, Philips Hue Festavia gets my seal of approval.

Bear in mind that to unlock all the features of your smart lights, you'll need a Philips Hue Bridge. This links to your Wi-Fi router and connects all your Hue lights (plus switches and sensors) in a mesh network. For more details, take a look at our guide about what is a Hue Bridge and how important is it.

Best smart light bulbs

Philips Hue Essential

Philips Hue is the biggest name in smart lighting, but the price can be daunting if you're thinking about trying it for the first time, or like the idea of having smart bulbs in every room. That's where the Hue Essential series comes in. It doesn't include as many different types and styles as the original Hue range, but it covers all the basics with screw, bayonet, and spotlight options – and they're excellent.

I tested a Philips Hue Essential bulb against its premium White and Color Ambiance counterpart, and I could barely tell the difference between the two in most situations. Color reproduction was excellent for both, they're equally responsive to commands from the Hue app, and their maximum brightness is almost identical.

The only significant difference involved dimming, with the regular White and Color Ambiance bulb capable of dropping to a much lower level than the Hue Essential bulb. That might be an issue if you want subtle lighting for your home entertainment area, or you want to fit a smart bulb in your bedroom to wake you gently with a sunrise effect, but for most rooms, it really won't matter.

Hue Essential bulbs work just like any other Hue lights in other respects. You can control them via Bluetooth or use a Philips Hue Bridge to connect them to other devices, including switches, sensors, and smart speakers.

That's all very impressive considering they're less than half the price of standard Philips Hue bulbs, and means they're easy to recommend.

Check out my full Philips Hue Essential review

Best smart table lamp

Philips Hue Play Wall Washer

The Philips Hue Play Wall Washer is the most versatile smart lamp I've tested. Rather than shining light directly into the room, it has a stack of three bright LEDs on the back, which cast a striking, even gradient of color onto a wall – hence the name.

Much like Philips Ambilight, you can use a pair of Wall Washers to enhance your home-theater setup by extending the colors from the edges of your TV screen. Just connect them to a Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, follow the setup instructions in the Hue app, and settle in for a more immersive viewing experience. Color-matching was impressive during my tests, and each Wall Washer has a surprisingly long throw, so they will even work with larger TVs.

You can also use it to add ambient light to any room (the further away from a wall it is, the more diffuse the glow), and link it to any other Hue smart lights and devices in your home.

Personally, I like to use it as a wake-up light (similar to the Philips Hue Twilight, but not quite as expensive). The Wall Washer casts a warm glow onto your bedroom wall that gradually brightens and shifts from dark blue to red, orange, yellow, and eventually white to rouse you from slumber gently. It's less of a shock to the system than an audible alarm, and beats even the best wake-up lamps when it comes to color and dimming.

Read my full Philips Hue Play Wall Washer review

Best smart string lights

String lights aren't just for the holidays, as Philips Hue Festavia proves. This string of tiny smart LEDs looks stunning gracing your tree, but can also be strung anywhere in your home to add ambient lighting all year round.

Using the Philips Hue app, you can apply themed Scenes to your Festavia lights, and even group them with other Hue bulbs and lamps to create a cohesive theme throughout a space. Thanks to a new feature called Hue SpatialAware, the app can even apply Scenes differently depending on where the lights are positioned, so your Festavia strings add to the ambiance in a way that makes sense for your room.

You can also control them using automations or switches and sensors. For example, you could have them illuminate only when someone enters the room, or on a timer so they shut off automatically at bedtime.

You can even use them to create a welcoming glow around the front of your home when someone approaches. Unlike most string lights we've tested over the years, standard Festavia lights are suitable for use indoors or out, and are rated IP54, meaning they won't be damaged by rain.

As with all Hue lights, you'll need a Philips Hue Bridge to get the most out of them, but if you already have a Hue setup, then they're a great option if you're shopping for lights for the holidays and beyond.

See our guide are smart string lights worth it?

The 'donut' lamp is one of IKEA's best-selling and most popular homeware products. This year, it's had a glow-up, adding extra functionality that the brand hopes will make it even more user-friendly and versatile. I fell instantly in love with the new-look VARMBLIXT donut lamp when I had a chance to check it out at CES.

I wanted to find out more, so I caught up with David Granath, Range Manager for Lighting and Home Electronics at IKEA of Sweden, for a deep-dive into the new features. Here's a run-down of the upgrades, with behind-the-scenes insights…

1. It changes color

The most immediately noticeable change is that the new donut lamp can change color. For this aspect, IKEA worked with Dutch artist and designer Sabine Marcelis, and there's a massive range of color options to choose from.

"We wanted to build on Sabine’s strong sense of color and atmosphere and include her ideas on how the lamp could gradually change between colors in a way that feels smooth," comments David.

2. It's dimmable

"One of the most common notes of feedback we have had since launching VARMBLIXT has been the ability to dim it and change the tone of the light," shares David. The updated version is capable of emitting a range of different white light temperatures (as well as all those colorful options), and it's also dimmable.

"Updating the donut lamp takes us closer to what the original intent was, to not only create a beautiful lamp but also really let the light set the mood of your home," he adds.

3. It's matte

The 2026 VARMBLIXT keeps the same shape as the original, and like that version it can sit flat on a table or be mounted to a wall. However, the finish has been switched up.

"The biggest change between the designs is that the new version has a matte, white surface instead of a glossy, colored one," says David. "This makes the light inside glow in a more soft and diffused way."

It makes sense that IKEA has kept the recognizable, curvy shape of the first version. I asked David why he felt that design struck such a cord with the public, and a lot of it is to do with the form.

"I think it’s a good example of where unique design is combined with an affordable price. It's a very strong design piece, and so simple in its form," he says. "You can put it in any room and it works. And it doesn’t depend on a specific interior style, which I think makes it easy for people to connect with it."

4. It's smart

To enable customers to make the most of all the new control options, the new VARMBLIXT is smart. It's built on the Matter standard, which means you'll be able to integrate it into your existing Smart Home setup.

Hook it up to the IKEA Home Smart app to unlock the full spectrum of color options – there are more than 40 different shades, and you can change the light intensity and brightness here too.

For David, the smart part is a logical next step for the lamp: "VARMBLIXT is one of our most loved and best-selling lighting products, so it felt like a really good place to show how smart features can genuinely improve everyday life."

5. … but you don't have to use the app

One of my favorites of the new features is that IKEA has provided a way to access the additional features without having to use the app. "We decided to include a pre-paired remote in the box, to give customers instant access to the extra functionality, even before choosing to add the product to an app," says David.

Using the remote, you can launch a sequence of 12 preset colors, curated by Sabine. It starts with white light, transitions into warm amber, red, and pink, then to a cool-toned lilac and turquoise, yellow, and then back to white. All the transitions have been meticulously fine-tuned and shift smoothly, without being jarring.

"Most people won't buy this updated VARMBLIXT because they want a smart device but because it’s a beautiful lamp, where you can change the atmosphere of a room with a click of a button," David concludes.

The updated VARMBLIXT is due to go on sale from April 2026. The original version will remain available to buy.

IKEA has updated one of its most loved and best-selling homeware products: the iconic 'donut' lamp – or, to give it its official name, the VARMBLIXT LED table/wall lamp. After getting a preview of the new, smarter VARMBLIXT at CES, I spoke to David Granath, Range Manager for Lighting and Home Electronics at IKEA of Sweden, about the second-gen donut lamp, the driving force behind the changes, and why he thinks this version is going to be even more popular than the original.

"In general, we want to offer well designed, functional home furnishing at very affordable prices. Even when we succeed really well – as in the VARMBLIXT collection – there are always things we can improve," says David. "Updating the donut lamp actually takes us closer to what the original intent was, to not only create a beautiful lamp but also really let the light set the mood of your home."

The original donut lamp, launched three years ago, has proved extremely popular. And the updated version adds new features – it can change color, cycling gently though a broad range of hues, plus there are options to adjust the intensity and brightness of the light.

It's also smart. It's built on the Matter standard, which means it can be connected to a range of smart home ecosystems. For Smart Home novices, IKEA has added a pre-paired remote in the box for instant access to the extra features, and there's also the option to connect up to the IKEA Home Smart app for more precise control.

For David, the smart features are a welcome support to the design elements. "Most people won't buy this updated VARMBLIXT because they want a smart device, but because it’s a beautiful lamp, where you can change the atmosphere of a room with a click of a button," he comments.

"VARMBLIXT is one of our most loved and best-selling lighting products, so it felt like a really good place to show how smart features can genuinely improve everyday life."

A softer option

IKEA purposely hasn't messed with the donut shape, but it has opted for a matte finish rather than glossy, to give this new iteration a "soft and diffused" effect. The new light adjustment options should make it even more versatile.

When quizzed on why the original struck such a cord with people, David had this to say: "I think it’s a good example of where unique design is combined with an affordable price. It's a very strong design piece, and so simple in its form. You can put it in any room and it works. And it doesn’t depend on a specific interior style, which I think makes it easy for people to connect with it."

The updated VARMBLIXT is due to go on sale from April 2026.

Winter still has us in its grip, but with the right lighting you can turn your home into a cosy sanctuary – without even touching your thermostat. IKEA's latest collection of smart lights and stylish lamps will add a warm glow to any room, and as a Homes Editor here at TechRadar, I've picked a selection of my favourites.

We fell in love with IKEA's Varmblixt smart lamp at the CES show in Las Vegas a few weeks ago, but you don't have to wait until it goes on sale in April – the original Varmblixt LED Table/Wall Lamp, with its signature donut shape and warm orange glow, is on sale right now for £55.

If you already have a favourite lamp, simply swapping the bulb can give it a whole new look. IKEA's retro Molnart LED Globe Bulb in golden brown is perfect for fixtures where the bulb is on show, and costs just £7. Alternatively, you could fit a dimmable smart bulb so you can lower the lighting with a tap, or change the color temperature to something warmer later in the day.

String lights aren't just for Christmas, and IKEA's Solvinden LED Lighting Chains are available in a range of cosy colours that would look perfect draped over a bookcase or headboard. The pink, yellow, and orange bulbs are a particularly pretty choice, or try the cute mini paper lanterns.

Finally, if you're short of space, a simple table lamp can take your lighting to the next level. Take a look at the minimalist Solvinden LED Globe Lamp in red and pink, or the yellow Tärnaby Table Lamp, which takes its design cues from old gas-powered lanterns.

Section break to introduce the products

• An update to the Philips Hue Flourish table lamp is on the way
• The lumens will be boosted from 806 to 1,100
• It's not clear when the lamp is going to go on sale worldwide

The newly unveiled IKEA donut lamp, part of the Varmblixt series, has been turning heads in recent weeks – but Philips Hue looks set to counter with a new product of its own, based on the existing Hue Flourish table lamp.

Based on a listing seen on Amazon Germany (via Hueblog), the lamp is going to get an upgrade from 806 lumens to 1,100 lumens. That should mean a higher maximum brightness for the Flourish lamp when it's sitting in your home.

If you're new to the product, the lamp doesn't actually have a light fixed inside it, like the Flourish pendant light or the Flourish ceiling light. Instead, it comes with a Philips Hue E27 bulb for full color illumination, which can be replaced as and when needed.

It's that bulb that is driving the upgraded lumens in the new version, and the rest of the lamp looks to be the same: it still measures 26.1 centimeters wide and 17.5 centimeters high, so make sure you've got enough room for it before buying.

The price is right?

Based on the Amazon Germany listing, the upgraded Flourish table lamp is going to be available for roughly the same price as the previous version launched at – though the older model no longer available to buy direct from Philips Hue.

The previous version would have cost you $153.99 / £129.99 (roughly AU$225, though it's not clear what the original price in Australia was). Remember that includes both the E27 bulb and the surrounding lamp, made from glass.

The IKEA Varmblixt donut will set you back $99.99 when it goes on sale in April – that's about £75 / AU$145, though international pricing is to be confirmed – so if you're going for the cheaper option it seems as though IKEA is still the way to go.

Of course, a lot depends on what else you've already got set up in your smart home: if you've already heavily invested in Philips Hue lights and perhaps a Hue Bridge to connect them all together, then the Flourish table lamp makes more sense. Well, either that, or buying a different IKEA light and using a Philips Hue bulb inside it.

• A new Hue Bridge update lays the ground for an automations tweak
• Automations will soon be visible alongside rooms and scenes
• There's no sign yet of the SpatialAware feature we saw demoed at CES

Update: We've had a response from Signify, the parent company of Philips Hue. Its representatives told us –

"Automations aren’t disappearing or being replaced. Instead, we're making them more accessible by surfacing them directly where they're most relevant. Automations will live alongside lights, scenes, and accessories within rooms and zones, so users can interact with them in the context of the space they’re controlling."

Scroll to the bottom for the rest of the statement. Our original story continues below.

--

If you have a Philips Hue Bridge or a Philips Hue Bridge Pro set-up at home, be on the lookout for a software upgrade that's rolling out now, which lays the foundations for upcoming improvements to smart-light automations.

As spotted by Notebookcheck, the notes accompanying the version 1975104000 update (Hue Bridge v2) and version 2071193000 update (Hue Bridge Pro) mention showing automations "within the screens of the rooms and zones they control".

Currently, if you open up the Philips Hue app on your phone, you'll see there's a separate Automations tab where you'll find them all listed – timers for waking up and going to sleep, motion-sensor triggers, preset color cycles, and so on. These automations are why Philips Hue devices are some of the best smart lights in the business.

In the near future, it sounds like these automations will also appear on the same screens where you can access the rooms and zones you've created for your lights, making it much easier to see what's what with a quick glance.

Coming soon

The latest Bridge update doesn't enable this change – but it's apparently arriving "in the coming weeks". We've reached out to Philips Hue parent company Signify to see if it has anything extra to add, and will add an update here if we hear back.

In addition to making preparations for this automations tweak, the update release notes say there are "several small changes behind the scenes" that make the Bridges work better than ever – so expect faster responses and fewer problems in the future.

Though it's not mentioned in this update, we're also patiently waiting for the SpatialAware feature, announced at CES 2026 and exclusive to the Hue Bridge Pro. When you set scenes in a room, it tweaks the output from each light, based on its position – for example, for a sunset scene, the artificial sun effect will set on one side of the room.

You can manage Hue Bridge updates by tapping Settings in the app, then choosing Software update. To make life easy, enable Automatic update, which means your Hue devices will update themselves, without you having to do anything else.

And the rest of that Signify statement in full –

"From those room and zone screens, users will be able to create, edit, delete, enable or disable, and start or stop automations – without having to navigate away. This makes it much easier to find the right automation at the right moment.

At the same time, the Automations tab will remain available. This gives users flexibility: they can either browse automations by context (room or zone) or view and manage the full list of automations across their home in one place.

We're also introducing more personalization in how content is displayed within rooms and zones. Users will be able to reorder sections – for example, placing scenes or automations first, followed by accessories and individual lights – based on how they prefer to control their space.

The change is focused on reducing friction and making everyday actions quicker, especially for users who rely heavily on scenes and automations rather than individual light controls. We'll share timing details closer to rollout."

As the dust settles on the chaos that is always CES 2026 and we take our time to chew on the tech we saw from the 2026 iteration of the Las Vegas tech show, I can’t help but feel like IKEA stole the show.

We discussed the coolest tech we saw on the latest episode of our podcast, and while awesome tech that feels ripped from the future – like the brain-reading Neurable HyperX headset and over-100-inch Samsung Micro-RGB TV – were among our favorites, we all conceded that IKEA’s simple yet effective smart appliances were the true stars.

Watch our latest podcast below, and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Speakers, lights, even air-fryer-microwave-combos, IKEA had a lot of fantastic home gadgetry to showcase – much of which came in dazzling colors, and of course, the brand’s iconic fun Swedish names.

The reason for IKEA’s excellence is a simple one: its tech hit the sweet spot of interesting, useful, and relatively affordable.

Its Varmblixt LED Lamps are beautiful, brightly colored donuts that boast a color representation that even some supposed smart lighting experts can't beat, and they’ll only cost $99 (prices will vary outside the US) when it ships in April.

Our US Editor-at-large saw the light in person, and said that while it "does look like a giant donut," there's "just something so beautiful about it." You can hear more about his first-hand experience with Varmblixt in the episode linked above.

Or you’ve got the tiny, beautiful Kallsup speakers, which are properly affordable at just $9.99. You can connect to up to 100 at once, and there’s a fantastic opportunity here for a delightful audio setup if you’re brimming with creativity.

While it’s arriving a little after CES proper, we’ve also got the three-in-one Gåtebo microwave making its global rollout following its European launch last year. Perfect for smaller spaces, this microwave meets airfryer looks to be a simple yet effective appliance, adding to IKEA’s improved smart home image

We’ll have to see how well IKEA’s tech performs when it lands in front of our expert reviewers, but if it hits the mark with everything it has shown off so far this year, IKEA might have already won 2026.

Every once in a while, you stumble on a gadget that haunts your nights and can pop up unbidden in your daydreams. You imagine it on your desk, next to your best 4K TV, or filling a wall like a vertical box of delicious donuts.

IKEA's quirky, donut-shaped Varmblixt lamp is that product, and I haven't stopped obsessing over the Bluetooth lamp since I saw it at CES 2026.

Varmblixt isn't brand new, but this version represents a significant update, with a fresh glossy finish and a multitude of colors. Let's start with the basics, and I'll try to explain why I'm so smitten with the $99 illuminator.

First of all, IKEA's Varmblixt is shaped like a giant donut (roughly one foot in diameter). At first glance, it has no visible seams and, though I spotted a power cord running out of it, I wasn't sure how IKEA fed it into that perfectly smooth torus shape. Naturally, I flipped the lamp over to see the well-hidden plastic base, which, in addition to the power cord entry, houses a slot for wall hanging.

Varmblixt invites you to touch it. Even before IKEA reps explained the new product, I was running my hands over the smooth glass surface and admiring its glow.

The CES 2026 IKEA setup featured almost a dozen of these lamps, which was fitting since the upgraded Varmblixt now supports 12 distinct colors, including the original orange, and new white, amber, red, pink, lavender, and turquoise, among others.

The other big upgrade here is the Matter over Thread integration, which means Varmblixt now works with virtually any smart home platform, including Alexa, Google Home, and Apple Home.

I'm glad, though, that IKEA chose to keep the tiny physical remote, which means that even if you don't want to hook the lamp up to an app, you can access all 12 colors (app control raises the customization level to 40 distinct hues).

There's the other reason I'm obsessing over Varmblixt: I used that remote. Unlike most other Bluetooth LED-based lighting systems that make hard, almost jarring switches between colors, Varmblixt takes it slow.

With each press of the remote, I watched as the color shifted almost imperceptibly, then slowly transitioned to the new, fully-dimmable hue. Not only that, but the color diffusion under the molded glass is near perfect. It's simply beautiful to watch, and I loved basking in the glow.

Function follows form

None of this would work so well if there weren't such a clear marriage between the design and color choices. Dutch artist Sabine Marcelis clearly designed the pair to be a marriage of hue and form. Even the way the colors change is more like a symphony than a switch, and is the perfect match for the Varmblixt's smooth looks.

Perhaps the other thing that attracted me to the Varmblixt is its fundamental simplicity. No hubs, just a choice to use the remote or the app.

One wonders if the Philips Hue lineup of smart lighting products would be the same kind of sensation if it paid as much attention to design and simplicity.

I remember thinking that Varmblixt would be perfect if it were also rechargeable and truly wireless; then my secret dream of a wall of them could come true.

The other thing I loved is that even though this is a more powerful and smarter version, Varmblixt will still cost just $99 (prices will vary outside the US) when it ships in April.

I know this is just a lamp, but the best technology products are often the ones that do one thing and do it very well. Varmblixt appears to succeed on that level, but it will do more than that because when you have one or more of these donut lamps in the home, they will be instant conversation pieces. And whether you're using your app, voice, or the handy remote to control them, I bet you elicit more than a few 'oohs' and 'ahhs'.

There is, by the way, another Varmblixt option, a large hanging LED pendant light, which looks like a random bunch of hanging 'U's. It currently only supports white light and also ships in April for $149. I do not dream about that lamp.

For the first time ever, IKEA took to the stage at CES 2026, and it was a huge success for the home furnishing giant.

Though IKEA has made its mark on all things interior design, it's also made a name for itself on the smart home front by becoming a great budget alternative to the best smart home devices. Its CES debut provided the perfect opportunity to show smart home enthusiasts what IKEA is all about, and it did just that.

In addition to upgrading one of its most popular lighting products, IKEA unveiled new audio devices and showcased new utility smart home sensors, which were first announced late last year.

Missed out on IKEA's CES appearance? Here are the 5 main announcements you need to know about.

Varmblixt LED Lamp

IKEA's iconic donut-shaped Varmblixt lamp has been a stand-out among the company's range of funky lighting - I even have one of my own. I love how it looks, but I wish I had waited for its new smart light version to drop.

The new Varmblixt smart lamp keeps its iconic design, but packs 12 different color presets that you can control with the new Bilresa remote, so you can smoothly float between different light settings to set the mood and atmosphere. You can also control the lamp by hooking it up to IKEA's Dirigea Wi-Fi hub, where you'll be able to select from a larger spectrum of over 40 hues.

One of its most unique features is that each color is designed to seamlessly blend into the next, which was designed by collaborator Sabine Marcelis. But its smart features don't end there: the lamp is also built on Matter, meaning that it can easily fit into your existing smart home setup. Basically, I'm ever so envious of this upgrade.

Kallsup smart speaker

As well as smart lamps, IKEA is dipping its toes even further into the audio waters, unveiling its tiny but dead cheap Kallsup speaker - which will set you back a mere $10. It's set for an April 2026 launch, with pricing varying in different regions.

Coming in three colorful shades (lime green, pink, and white) the Kallsup speaker is an affordable entry-level speaker that's very light and allows you to get creative by stacking them like building blocks.

Though it doesn't pack a powerful punch on the audio front, which we'd expect from a speaker of this size, it supports Bluetooth 5.3 and has a 20-hour battery life at 50% volume. You can even connect up to a whopping 100 of them - the ultimate way to get the party started.

Teklan Kulglass collection

Alongside its new cheap and cheerful speaker, IKEA showcased a new range of premium-priced audio devices from its Teklan collection, which was first announced in November 2025.

The new collaboration with internet personality Tekla Evelina Severin consists of a number of eye-catching audio gadgets including the portable Solskydd Bluetooth speaker, which can be mounted to a stand or to a wall space. There's also the mushroom-shaped Kulglass Bluetooth speaker and lamp, which packs the handy Spotify Tap function.

Kajplats smart bulb expansion

If there's one thing that IKEA has shown us is that smart bulbs don't have to cost you an arm and a leg. At CES 2026, IKEA announced its expansion of its Kajplats range of smart bulbs (another gadget that was announced in November 2025), showcasing its cheapest one yet at just $6.

But don't think that this price seems too good to be true, this $6 smart bulb still supports Matter-over-Thread and can be controlled through a number of smart home ecosystems including Apple Home, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings.

New smart sensors and control gadgets

Smart bulbs were just the beginning - IKEA is also expanding its utility lineup of smart sensors and control devices that can be integrated across different rooms in your home, which includes the new Bilresa remotes that you can use with the smart Varmblixt lamp.

Additionally, IKEA's new Klippbok water sensor uses sound alerts and phone notifications to let you know when a leakage occurs, while the Alpstuga sensor measures CO₂, particles, temperature, and humidity to determine the air quality in your home. There's also a new smart plug that tracks your energy usage.

We're on the show floor at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, where all the biggest names in tech are showing off their latest consumer products, and smart home brands are vying for a place in your living room.

There have been some interesting developments in the world of smart lighting (such as IKEA's donut-shaped Varmblixt LED Lamp), but one that really caught my eye was a new line of budget-friendly smart light bulbs from Lifx.

These have been on sale for a couple of months already, but this is the first time Lifx has demonstrated them at a major trade show.

We've tested various Lifx products over the years here at TechRadar and been impressed by their performance. However, they tend to lean towards the expensive side, with premium prices more in line with Philips Hue's best smart lights than affordable rivals Govee or Nanoleaf.

Last year, Philips launched the Hue Essential series – a collection of everyday bulbs that work in just the same way as its regular lights, but with more modest specs and much lower prices, so it makes sense that Lifx is following its lead with a more accessible range of entry-level bulbs.

Opting for a cheaper bulb doesn't necessarily mean missing out on features or quality. I put a Philips Hue Essential E27 bulb to the test against a regular Philips Hue White & Color Ambiance one, and was surprised how well the cheaper model compared in terms of overall brightness and color reproduction. The biggest difference was that the regular Hue bulb could be dimmed to 0.2% of its maximum brightness, whereas the Hue Essential one could only drop to 2%.

Depending on how you're planning to use them, that might be something you don't even notice – particularly if you're not mixing the two bulb types within the same room.

So what does the new Lifx Everyday series bring to the table (or ceiling) compared with Hue Essential, and which smart lights should you pick if you're on a budget?

Significant specs

The table below sums up the key similarities and differences between a Philips Hue Essential and a Lifx Everyday bulb. In the interest of simplicity, I'll be comparing the standard E27 screw-fitting bulb in both collections.

I should also point out that although Hue Essential bulbs can be bought individually, Lifx Everyday bulbs are only available in packs of two, so here I'll be comparing the list price for a twin-pack of each.

As you can see, while both these bulbs are in the entry-level price bracket, the Philips Hue Essential is considerably more expensive. If you want to make the most of the Hue Essential bulb's features (beyond simply adjusting the brightness and color) then you'll also need to factor in the price of a Philips Hue Bridge, which connects to your router and links all your Hue devices in a mesh network using the Zigbee wireless protocol.

Using Zigbee does have some significant advantages over Wi-Fi though, and is ideal for low-powered devices like smart lights and switches. Connecting multiple smart lights directly to your Wi-Fi router can cause congestion, and although you can theoretically connect dozens of bulbs to a single router, doing so is likely to slow down other connected devices.

Zigbee-enabled devices also act as repeaters, which can dramatically extend their range compared to Wi-Fi connected devices.

The Hue Essential bulb has a slightly higher max brightness and the Lifx Everyday, plus a wider white light temperature range. The Lifx bulb offers deeper dimming, however, which may be helpful if you want to use your bulb as a wake-up light in the morning.

Into the apps

Both thje Lifx and Philips Hue apps let you choose from a collection of preset lighting scenes or create your own to set a particular mood. However, the Hue app also has an AI-powered assistant to make bespoke scenes for you using typed or spoken commands. Both the Philips Hue app and the Lifx app let you set custom schedules and automations.

Both apps let you connect to their respective brand's switches without using a third-party platform, but the Hue app also offers native support for the brand's huge range of sensors, cameras, doorbell, and other devices. You can not only control your lights, but also create and arm a home security system through the same app. There are also more third-party integrations for Hue products via services like IFTTT.

Conclusion

So which entry-level bulbs are right for you? The answer depends partly on your budget, and partly on what you're planning to do in the future.

The Lifx Everyday bulbs are cheaper to buy outright, and have the advantage of not needing an additional bridge to unlock features like customizable scenes and scheduling. If you want smart light bulbs for one or two rooms, they're a very reasonably priced option, with brightness, dimming, and colors to compete with premium options.

Philips Hue Essential bulbs, on the other hand, are intended as an affordable entry point to the Hue system. If you'd like to gradually change all your lights to smart ones and can see yourself building a system spanning multiple rooms with different sensors and security devices, Hue Essentials will be a better investment in the long term.

• IKEA has launched a set of new smart lights as part of its Varmblixt series
• These include a donut-shaped LED lamp with softly-shifting colors
• There's also a dimmable version of the tubular Varmblixt pendant lamp

We're at CES 2026, where IKEA has just launched a fun, donut-shaped smart lamp with soft, subtly shifting colors. The lamp (which can be mounted on a wall or used on a table) is a new addition to the Varmblixt series, which first launched in 2022 and is a collaboration with Dutch artist and designer Sabine Marcelis.

The original 2022 range included tableware, pendant lights, an illuminated mirror, and the classic Varmblixt LED Lamp, which had glossy orange glass to reflect the ambient light in your room while projecting a warm glow.

IKEA has now revamped the LED Lamp for 2026 with matt white glass and and color-shifting lights. The lamp comes with a Bilresa remote that lets you cycle through 12 preset colors – from pink and lavender to soft yellow. Each hue was picked by Sabine Marcelis, and blends smoothly with the next.

TechRadar's Editor at Large, Lance Ulanoff, has had his hands on the new Varmblixt LED Lamp on the CES show floor. See it in action in the video below.

If you like, you can skip the remote and connect the lamp to IKEA's Dirigea Wi-Fi hub, which will let you control the lamp using the company's mobile app or any other Matter-compatible smart home system. Operating the lamp this way lets you choose from a wider palette of over 40 colors.

If you like the shape of the lamp but aren't interested in smart home tech, worry not – the original orange version without smart controls will still be available to buy.

IKEA is also launching a smart version of the tubular Varmblixt LED Pendent Light, with dimmable white light. Like the LED Lamp it can be controlled using the remote included in the box, or be connected to the Dirigea hub and integrated into a larger smart home system.

Both lights will go on sale in April. The Varmblixt LED Lamp will be priced at $99.99 (about £80 / AU$150), while the LED Pendant Light will cost $149.99 (about £110 / AU$220).

IKEA has become a big name in affordable smart home tech, and in November it released 21 new connected devices, including light bulbs, sensors, and smart plugs. It'll be interesting to see what else its engineers and designers have up their sleeves in 2026, particularly as it bids to catch up with bigger names like Philips Hue. Watch this space...

• Your Philips Hue lights are getting a new feature called Hue SpatialAware
• It applies scenes differently depending on the location of lights in a room
• There's also a long-awaited update coming to the Philips Hue Bridge Pro

Your Philips Hue lights are getting an upgrade that's going to make your rooms look a lot more cohesive. It's called Hue SpatialAware, and it will apply lighting scenes differently depending on the location of smart lights within your room, resulting in a more natural-looking effect.

Lighting scenes are palettes of themed colors that you can apply to all the lights in a particular room or area. They're great for setting a mood, but until now each color in the scene could be applied to any light bulb or fixture, regardless of its location. The result could be somewhat jumbled, as you can see on the left-hand side of the images above and below.

That's about to change though, because now you can use your phone's camera to scan your room and log the location of each light. Hue SpatialAware will then apply the colors within your chosen scene in a way that makes sense. For example, the lights on one side of the room might have a bright, warm glow to represent a sunset, while those on the other are darker. You might also find the lights towards the top of your room are brighter than those lower down, simulating a sunny sky.

Hue SpatialAware is currently available for about half the remastered scenes in the Hue app's scene gallery, and is most effective with nature-inspired palettes. It requires Philips Hue Bridge Pro, which went on sale in September last year, and SpatialAware will be available early this year.

More bright ideas

SpatialAware isn't the only new feature rolling out today. Anyone who currently has multiple Philips Hue Bridges will be pleased to learn that they can now port all their lights to a single Bridge Pro. A single Bridge Pro can support over 150 lights and 50 accessories, and you can transfer data from as many Hue Bridges as you like provided you don't exceed those limits.

The Philips Hue AI assistant is getting an upgrade that will let it create automations based on your requests. For example, you can ask it to wake you at a particular time every day, except for Mondays. The assistant is currently only available in English, but support for Dutch, German, and Spanish will arrive over the next few weeks.

There's good news for Apple Home users too. The Hue Secure camera, video doorbell, and contact sensors will soon work seamlessly with Apple's smart home platform, with support for live streaming via picture-in-picture mode on Apple TV, and real-time alerts in the Apple Home app. This will be available very soon as well.

• Govee unveiled three new smart light products at CES 2026, including the new Floor Lamp 3 and two new ceiling lights
• The new Ceiling Light Ultra encourages you to create your own animated color gradients, while the Sky Ceiling Light leans into natural lighting
• As well as new hardware, Govee announced a slew of new software upgrades including DaySync, which changes your smart lights based on the time of day

Govee’s showcase at CES 2026 showed that not only is the company focussed on evolving its range of smart lighting, but it's dedicated to making the technology even smarter through its new era of smart lights and software updates – and Philips Hue should watch out.

Known for making some of the best smart lights out there, three new products are joining Govee’s range of lighting products. These include the Floor Lamp 3, the Govee Ceiling Light Ultra, and the Govee Sky Ceiling Light – each offering Matter integration and compatibility with Apple's HomeKit smart home platform.

While we don’t have any pricing details for the new range, the new Floor Lamp 3 succeeds the Govee Floor Lamp 2 packing an upgraded LuminBlend+ color system. Its advanced new features now allow you to control a staggering 281 trillion colors and an extensive spectrum of temperature lighting ranging from 1,000K to 10,000K – a feature that’ll be coming to other Govee smart lights this year.

With that said, the Ceiling Light Ultra, and Sky Ceiling Light are new to the Govee family, both of which are 21-inches in size, but offer different, unique functions.

The Ceiling Light Ultra is a more playful take on the smart light, packing a detailed 616-pixel LED matrix which can display intricate animated scenes and gradients with 5000 lumens of brightness. You can even take it a step further and design your own patterns in the Govee app “with up to eight distinct layers of motion, color, and shapes” – or you can select from the 20+ presets that are included – something that even the Philips Hue Datura ceiling light has yet to achieve.

When it comes to the Sky Ceiling Light, this model is designed to emulate natural daylight, with 5200 lumens of brightness and edge-mounted LEDs that mimic the effects of a real skylight window. While the Ceiling Light Ultra provides a more creative experience, the Sky Ceiling Light leans more towards the well-being side of smart lighting, offering realistic blue-sky effects during the day and warm sunset tones in the evening with the help of DaySync – a new lighting feature introduced by Govee.

Govee catches up on customization

We’re very fond of Govee as a budget-friendly smart lighting brand, but until now one of its drawbacks has been the lack of advanced features offered by rivals like Philips Hue. With the new DaySync and AI Lighting Bot 2.0 functions, that could all be about to change.

At CES 2026, Govee announced its new DaySync functionality alongside its range of new hardware. As its name implies, DaySync can alter the brightness and color of your smart lights based on the time of day. It can also pick up on sunrise and sunset times and local conditions and change your lighting accordingly – which is native to the Sky Ceiling Light.

Additionally, Govee unveiled its AI Lighting Bot 2.0, an upgraded version of its scene-changing chatbot feature that adjusts animated scenes in its pixel and graphic smart lights. Instead of using fixed commands, it can now alter your smart lighting by using natural conversations.

Like we’ve stated earlier, we don’t know how much Govee’s new Floor Lamp 3, Ceiling Light Ultra, or Sky Ceiling Light will cost, nor when they’ll be available to purchase. That aside, this is a huge step for both Govee’s smart lighting hardware and software, and 2026 is already looking to be a bright year for one of our favorite smart home brands.

Philips Hue Essential: two-minute review

Philips Hue Essential bulbs are a more affordable version of the company's standard smart lights, and they perform incredibly well considering they're less than half the price. There are a few limitations, though. For example, Philips Hue Essential bulbs offer a maximum brightness of 806 lumens, whereas standard Philips Hue White & Color Ambiance bulbs range from 800 to 1,600 lumens.

In most other respects, the two are very similar, and during my tests there was only one clear instance where the standard bulb really outshone the Essential version.

To see how the two would compare, I set up a pair of lamps – one with a Philips Hue Essential bulb, and the other with an 800-lumen Philips Hue White & Color Ambiance bulb. I added them to the same room in the Philips Hue app, which would enable me to control them simultaneously, and directly compare and contrast their output.

During most of the tests I ran, it was difficult to spot any difference between the two. Both were equally responsive, and produced colors that were identical to my naked eye when I switched between scenes. According to Signify (the company behind the Philips Hue brand), Essential bulbs use different color-matching technology to regular Hue lights; but personally, I had a hard time telling the difference.

Having said that, I did notice a dark band at the top of the Essential bulb, which wasn't present on the premium bulb. This was most apparent with purple and blue light. Note that it isn't something you'll notice if you're using the bulb in a ceiling light, nor in a table lamp, and therefore is unlikely to be a deal-breaker unless you're exceptionally picky.

The two were equally bright (as expected), although if I'd used a higher-output White & Color Ambiance bulb, then it would have been appreciably brighter.

However, there's one important difference that you should be aware of, particularly if you're looking for smart bulbs that will produce a natural-looking sunrise and sunset to help you wake up feeling refreshed, or to create subtle ambient lighting in your living room.

With both bulbs dialled down to their dimmest setting, the Hue Essential bulb was much brighter than the more expensive White & Color Ambiance model, as you can see in the photo below. That's because the Hue Essential bulb can only be dimmed to 2% of its maximum brightness, whereas the regular bulb can drop to just 0.2%.

I also found that the Essential bulb tended to show a slightly warmer cast, due to its narrower white light spectrum (2,200–6,500K compared to 1,000-20,00K for a regular Hue bulb). Depending on your preferred light temperature, the difference could be apparent if you use the two different types of bulbs in close proximity,

I wouldn't mix and match regular Hue and Hue Essential bulbs within the same room. However, they're an excellent option for those wanting to setup a Philips Hue system but have previously been intimidated by the price. They're also great if you're looking to extend your existing system to more rooms in your home, without splashing too much cash.

• Performance score: 4.5/5

Philips Hue Essential: price and availability

• Much cheaper than regular Philips Hue bulbs
• Even more affordable when bought as a multipack
• You may also want a Philips Hue Bridge

The Philips Hue Essential range is designed to be an accessible entry point into the world of smart lighting, with the bulbs coming in at a much cheaper price than standard Philips Hue ones.

One Philips Hue Essential bulb (either screw or bayonet) costs $24.99 / £19.99 (about AU$40). If you want several, you can save money by opting for a multipack. A twin-pack costs $44.99 / £32.99 (about AU$70), and a four-pack comes in at $59.99 / £49.99 (about AU$90).

For comparison, a twin-pack of regular 800-lumen Philips Hue White & Color Ambiance bulbs costs $98.99 / £84.99 / AU$149.25, and a four-pack is $185.99 / £169.99 / AU$290.50. That's the starting price for a maximum brightness of 800 lumens; brighter bulbs cost even more.

There's another potential cost to consider, though. Although you can control the color and brightness of your Philips Hue Essential lights using Bluetooth on your phone, for more advanced features (such as applying scenes, setting schedules, and connecting them to smart speakers or switches) you'll also need a Philips Hue Bridge.

A standard Philips Hue Bridge costs $65.99 / £49.99 / AU$99.95, so factor this into your budget when planning your new smart lighting system. There's also a Philips Hue Bridge Pro, but this would be overkill for a new user with a small setup.

At the time of writing, Hue Essential bulbs only seem to be available in Australia as part of a starter kit, costing $170.08 for four bulbs and the Hue Bridge.

• Value score: 5/5

Philips Hue Essential: specifications

Philips Hue Essential: design

• Only three bulb types available
• All options offer tuneable white and colored light
• Maximum brightness of 806 lumens

Philips offers only a small selection of Hue Essential bulbs, which makes sense for an entry-level option. There are currently three models available – screw, bayonet, and GU10 spotlights – and these should be fine for most fittings around your home. Here, I tested an E27 screw-fitting bulb.

By contrast, regular Philips Hue lights come in virtually every shape and form possible, including candle and "filament"-style bulbs, LED strips, and gradient lamps to name just a few.

All bulbs in the Philips Hue Essential Series are "Warm to Cool White & Color", meaning they can show eight million colours, plus white light at different temperatures (from 2,200K to 6,500K). Regular Philips Hue smart bulbs are available in three versions:

• Warm white, which lets you tune brightness but not color;
• White Ambiance, which lets you adjust the brightness and temperature;
• White & Color Ambiance, which also lets you pick from eight million colors.

For more details, take a look at my complete guide to the different types of Philips Hue smart light bulbs.

All Philips Hue Essential bulbs offer a maximum brightness of 806 lumens. Regular Philips Hue bulbs range from 800 all the way through to 1,600 lumens.

• Design score: 4.5/5

Should you buy Philips Hue Essential bulbs?

Buy them if

Don't buy them if

Philips Hue Essential: also consider

How I tested the Philips Hue Essential bulbs

I tested a Philips Hue Essential E27 screw-fitting bulb alongside a standard Philips Hue Essential White & Color Ambiance bulb in identical table lamps, so I could more easily compare the two. I connected both to my existing Philips Hue setup, and added them to the same zone, which would enable me to control them both at once via the Hue app on my phone, set them to the same colors and brightness, and note similarities and differences.

I also tested them using the "sunset" automation within the Philips Hue app, with various preset scenes, and by tuning the light color and brightness manually.

For more details, see how we test, rate, and review products at TechRadar.

Whether you prefer your decorations in minimalist white and silver or gaudy festive cheer, a Christmas tree just isn’t complete without string lights.

Thanks to the swathes of LED options on the market, gone are the days of hunting through the entire string to find that one pesky dud bulb that’s killed the mood, which is a big win for those of us who are old enough to remember.

Nowadays, we’ve got oodles of smart string light options at our fingertips, but are they worth the extra cash? In my opinion: absolutely.

A smart upgrade offers much more convenience in how you control your lighting and greater flexibility than you could ever get from standard LED string lights, with companion apps offering scheduling and voice control.

Smart features let you fine-tune the ambience to your liking with adjustable color and brightness settings, DIY modes, and more, opening the option to use those diddy bulbs year-round if fairy lights are your thing. However, the level of customization and convenience can vary between brands.

In preparation for my Christmas tree’s glow-up, I’ve tested four sets from Philips Hue, Nanoleaf, and Govee, focusing on the differences in features, usability, and convenience.

To save you some deliberation time, I’ve shared my findings below to light the way to your perfect set of string lights.

The essentials

As with most smart tech, the price of a set of string lights can vary widely, from super-cheap finds on Amazon to premium options. It helps to know exactly what you’re getting for your money, as you may well find you can get similar, or sometimes better, value from a lower-priced option.

To demonstrate this, the sets I’ve tested were similar in length, with most around the 66ft / 20m mark, aside from the Nanoleaf Matter Holiday Smart string lights, which are slightly longer at 78.8ft / 24m. I’ve collated the main elements to consider in the table below.

I’ve quoted the list prices above, but there are some joy-inducing holiday discounts at the time of writing, including a deal on the 66ft / 20m Govee Christmas Sparkle String Lights, which lowers the cost to just $64.99 in the US and £69.99 in the UK.

• Shop Govee’s full Christmas sale in the US

• Shop Govee’s full Christmas sale in the UK

Nanoleaf is aglow with holiday discounts too, having cut the price of the 78.8ft / 24m Nanoleaf Matter Smart Holiday String Lights down to $74.99 in the US and £58.49 in the UK.

• Shop Nanoleaf’s full Holiday sale in the US

• Shop Nanoleaf’s full Holiday sale in the UK

Companionable apps

Each set of string lights I tested comes with a companion app, but some are noticeably more user-friendly than others.

Nanoleaf gave me plenty of scenes to explore, and it was satisfyingly simple to create my own. The paint feature makes it easy to customize my color palette, with two bulbs popping into color in real time with each segment I filled in the app. I could also apply one of the many available dynamic motions to custom or existing palettes, such as random, pulse, and wheel.

Preset scenes are abundant on the simple-to-use Govee Home app, which also offers access to loads of user-created options.

It was trickier to add colors to specific bulbs with the Finger Sketch feature than in the Nanoleaf app, since I had to select a block at a time and then choose smaller segments from there.

Fortunately, the Mapping feature for the Christmas Sparkle and Christmas String Lights 2 can make this easier. All I had to do was take three photos of the most prominent sides of the tree, use my finger to paint over the representation generated by the app.

It took a few attempts, as I had to tweak the lighting and keep my hands as steady as possible for the best results, but it's a fun feature that offers a higher level of creativity than the Nanoleaf and Philips Hue string lights.

There’s also a little more flexibility with the Govee AI feature, which accepts written, verbal, and image prompts, unlike Nanoleaf, where I could only use the former.

I consider the Hue app to be the least user-friendly. Adjusting brightness and white temperature, and selecting single colors, is straightforward enough, but the settings for fine-tuning color placement and applying effects are very limited.

The process of exploring preset scenes is also flawed, and proved more time-consuming than those of its competitors. Each time I applied or saved a scene from the library, I was sent back to the dashboard, meaning I had to navigate back and scroll through the library again to get back to where I was.

Nonetheless, once my favorite presets were saved, it was simple enough to switch between them and alter the brightness.

Using voice commands via my Echo Dot naturally made life even easier with each set I tested. Though I will note that the connection process was trickier with the Nanoleaf string lights, as they wouldn’t play ball with my dual-band Wi-Fi network.

In or out?

If you’re only interested in a set of string lights to adorn the tree in your living room, you’ll be spoiled for choice. If you have dreams of adding that festive sparkle to your front yard, however, you’ll need to look a little bit harder.

Fortunately, all but one of the sets I’ve tested are stated to be suitable for outdoor use, with the exception being the Govee Christmas Sparkle String Lights. Here it pays to check the IP ratings of the string lights you’re considering, as this rating offers more clarity on whether you can use them as planned, or if they’re best kept within the confines of your porch.

For example, the Philips Hue and Nanoleaf models I’ve tested have an IP54 rating, which means they’re best used in covered areas, as they won’t be too fond of wet conditions.

In contrast, the Govee Christmas String Lights 2 have an IP67 rating, which, in official terms, means they can withstand immersion in up to one meter of water for thirty minutes. This is the rating you’d want for any device that lives permanently outdoors, such as home security cameras, because they’re not afraid of a bit of rain.

Reel convenient

My final point is for those who despair at the thought of untangling the lights every year. I was ready to throw in the towel after testing just one set, which turned out to be the most inconvenient.

The Philips Hue Festavia lights are intended to be stored in one large bundle, which increases the chance of tangling, and the inconveniently placed velcro strap made it harder not to get the lights caught up when applying them to the tree.

The Nanoleaf Matter String Lights and Govee Christmas Sparkle String Lights were less frustrating to work with, as they were stored in two and three bundles, respectively. If you want to keep things as simple as possible, I suggest going with an alternative format.

The Govee Christmas String Lights 2 are a prime example. Unlike a traditional fairy light setup, the LED lights are set into the cord. This makes them a little more subtle, but also means they can be stored and unwound from their reel, making them a great alternative if you’re tired of wrestling your string lights into submission every festive season.

The craziness of Black Friday is behind us, but now we have the best Cyber Monday deals to look forward to – and there are tonnes of discounts on the best smart speakers still live on Amazon.

One of our favorite models, the Echo Dot 5th Gen, has been bundled with the Tapo smart bulb at Amazon for £34.99 (was £74.98), saving you a huge 53% this Cyber Monday. At the moment, the Echo Dot 5th Gen will cost you £29.99 on its own, so with that in mind, you'll only be spending an extra £5 on a Tapo smart bulb, which we see as a decent offer.

Today's best Echo Dot bundle Cyber Monday deal

The Echo Dot 5th Gen is a small, but powerful smart speaker that, unlike its Echo Pop sibling, is designed to fit into any room in your home, making it a versatile smart speaker. It's also a simple and easy-to-use model that gets the job done, packing all the basic functions we love to see in an Echo speaker.

As well as its flagship room temperature and new tap gestures, we were impressed with its ability to smoothly control other smart home devices be that smart thermostats and lights. If your home is already kitted out with other devices, the Echo Dot will serve as a reliable smart home controller.

Shop more of today's best Cyber Monday sales

• Amazon: up to 66% off tech & essentials
• AO: up to £500 off Dyson, Bosch & Hisense
• Argos: up to 50% off appliances, tech & toys
• Boots: save on 1,000s of beauty products
• Currys: deals on Ninja, Shark & Lenovo
• Dell: laptops from £279
• Dyson: up to £550 off vacuums
• EE: Switch 2 bundles from £20/month
• John Lewis: up to 50% off tech & fashion
• Lego: sets & accessories from £2.99
• Samsung: deals on appliances & phones
• Very: up to 40% off tech, toys & fashion

Black Friday is the perfect time of year to try Philips Hue smart lights, or extend your existing setup. Hue bulbs, lamps, switches and other devices are usually quite expensive, but this year's Black Friday deals are better than ever, making the premium smart lights much more affordable.

If you're in the US, the most exciting deal is the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box for $269.99 at Amazon (was $284.99). This box lets you sync your Hue lights with the action on your TV screen for a totally immersive experience, and this is the cheapest it's ever been, by a long shot.

In the UK, I was excited to see a four-pack of Philips Hue Essentials White and Colour Ambiance bulbs for just £46.18 at Amazon (was £59.99). I'm currently testing these bulbs myself, and my first impressions are very positive. They can't be dimmed as low as the original Hue bulbs, and don't offer such a wide range of colors, but both types offer a maximum brightness of 800 lumens, and they're a much more affordable way to dip your toe into the Hue ecosystem.

Philips Hue Black Friday deals – US quick links

• Amazon: record-breaking prices on Hue bulbs
• Best Buy: over $60 off selected Hue smart lights
• Lowe's: discounts on Philips Hue starter kits
• Philips Hue: lightning sale with up to 40% off

Today's best Philips Hue Black Friday deals in the US

Philips Hue Black Friday deals – UK quick links

• Amazon: deals on Philips Hue and Hue Essentials
• AO.com: over £100 off lights, plus member discounts
• John Lewis: save 30% with multi-buy deals
• Philips Hue: lightning sale with extra savings
• Very: big savings on Hue bulbs, strips, and lamps

Today's best Philips Hue Black Friday deals in the UK

Philips Hue is the premium brand when it comes to smart lights, but it's not the only one around, and rivals like Govee and Nanoleaf have a lot to offer too, particularly if you're looking for fun lights for your entertainment system rather than everyday bulbs. Take a look at our complete guide to the best smart lights for more of our top recommendations.

More Black Friday deals in the US

• Amazon: 45% off TVs, AirPods, air fryers & vacuums
• Apple: iPads, AirPods & MacBooks from $119
• Best Buy: $1,000 off TVs, laptops & headphones
• Dell: laptop deals from $249.99
• Home Depot: 40% off appliances, furniture, grills & tools
• Lenovo: 45% off laptops & tablets
• Lowe's: up to 30% off appliances, holiday decor & tools
• Samsung: up to $2,000 off appliances, TVs & phones
• Target: 40% off Christmas decor, clothing & furniture
• T-Mobile: up to $1,100 off latest iPhone 17
• Walmart: furniture, cheap TVs & vacs from $69
• Wayfair: 54% off Christmas, furniture & decor

More Black Friday deals in the UK

• Amazon: up to 66% off tech & essentials
• AO: up to £500 off Dyson, Bosch & Hisense
• Argos: up to 50% off appliances, tech & toys
• Boots: save on 1,000s of beauty products
• Currys: deals on Ninja, Shark & Lenovo
• Dell: laptops from £279
• Dyson: up to £550 off vacuums
• EE: Switch 2 bundles from £20/month
• John Lewis: up to 50% off tech & fashion
• Lego: sets & accessories from £2.99
• Samsung: deals on appliances & phones
• Very: up to 40% off tech, toys & fashion

With so many fantastic deals popping up this Black Friday, it can quickly start to feel like you can't see the wood for the trees. But, this deal on one of my favorite smart lights shone right out to me, as we can now purchase the white Philips Hue Signe Gradient Floor Lamp at Amazon for just $232 (was $362.99).

If you prefer darker colors and don't mind spending a few dollars more, then you'll be pleased to know you can get the black Philips Hue Signe Gradient Floor Lamp at Amazon for $238.80 (was $362.99).

• Shop Amazon's full Black Friday sale

Black Friday deals make the perfect excuse to splurge on premium products, so this saving of up to $131 off this vibrant, wall-washing floor lamp from one of the most popular smart lighting brands is bound to be very popular.

Not in the US? See today's best deals in your region below

Today's best Philips Hue Signe gradient floor lamp Black Friday deal

Philips Hue is well-known for creating some of the best smart lights, and I must say, I really appreciate the versatility of the Signe Gradient Floor Lamp.

It offers plenty of opportunities to fine-tune the effects to suit any situation, thanks to the adjustable brightness, hues, and white temperatures, and there's also a satisfying range of scenes to try out and save to your library.

The Signe Gradient Floor Lamp has no onboard controls, but is easy to sync to the Hue app via Bluetooth. To make the most out of this smart light, you'll want to use it with a Hue Bridge, which lets you control it away from home and sync it with your smart home systems.

More Black Friday Philips Hue deals

Shop more of today's best Black Friday sales

• Amazon: 45% off TVs, AirPods, air fryers & vacuums
• Apple: iPads, AirPods & MacBooks from $119
• Best Buy: $1,000 off TVs, laptops & headphones
• Dell: laptop deals from $249.99
• Home Depot: 40% off appliances, furniture, grills & tools
• Lenovo: 45% off laptops & tablets
• Lowe's: up to 30% off appliances, holiday decor & tools
• Samsung: up to $2,000 off appliances, TVs & phones
• Target: 40% off Christmas decor, clothing & furniture
• T-Mobile: up to $1,100 off latest iPhone 17
• Walmart: furniture, cheap TVs & vacs from $69
• Wayfair: 54% off Christmas, furniture & decor

Govee Uplighter Floor Lamp review

The Govee Uplighter Floor Lamp is a feature-packed smart light that combines practical lighting with vivid and eye-catching visual effects through preset scenes and custom settings.

Since its launch in June 2025, the Govee Uplighter Floor Lamp has been available to buy direct from Govee, as well as Amazon and other retailers. It has a list price of $179.99 / £179.99, which is great value for money considering how convenient and versatile it is.

Better still, at the time of writing, Govee is offering a discount of $30 / £30, taking the cost down to just $149.99 / £149.99, which is a fantastic price considering this is one of the best smart lights I’ve tested. There’s a similar deal at Amazon, lowering the cost to £149.99 in the UK, but it's just $20 off in the US, so it’s worth purchasing from Govee if you’re buying from across the pond.

The process of assembling the Uplighter was straightforward, although I suggest having someone assist with attaching the lamp section to the pole if you have limited shoulder mobility. Alternatively, if you have the floorspace, you can do what I did and prop up the pole with boxes so you can build the lamp on its side, but it’s much more of a faff than assembling it standing up.

While the Uplighter is pretty lanky at 66.9 inches / 170cm, it’s reassuringly stable thanks to its weighted base. It has a simple aesthetic when it’s not in use. The majority of its outer surfaces are plastic apart from the aluminium stand, which appears to have a powder-coated finish.

I can’t help but find the lampshade somewhat uninspiring when not lit up, but that’s simply because I’m obsessed with how pretty it is when the colors are flowing. Nonetheless, it has a nice finish, featuring a combination of clear and smoky black translucent plastics separated by a black band with a matte finish.

A little word of warning: the clear dome of the lampshade is easy to scuff. I accidentally scuffed mine when it gently knocked against the sloped section of my living room ceiling as I was testing the lamp’s stability. It’s not noticeable when the sidelamp is turned on, but I still recommend taking extra care when shifting the Uplighter about.

The Govee Uplighter Floor Lamp had me hooked in seconds with the bright and colorful effects that were projected from its ripple light. The color-shifting sidelight is a satisfying element too, especially for someone as addicted to color as I am. The downlighter proved satisfyingly practical, too, especially with its easy-to-adjust color temperature and brightness settings.

Govee states this lamp can emit up to 1000lm of brightness, and I can confirm that the downlighter makes for convenient task lighting. The uplighter’s brightness means that the ripple effects are beautifully vivid, even during the daytime, and it looks utterly fantastic when ramped up to 100 percent at night.

At the time of writing, only two of the lamp’s elements can be used simultaneously, though I’ve heard murmurings that we may be able to enable all three in the future. This limitation isn’t really an issue, and I’m sure some may consider using all three lights as overkill; however, I’d love it if I didn’t have to sacrifice one of the colorful elements when using the downlighter.

In terms of onboard controls, there are two buttons located on the front of the pole, one for power and the other for switching between scenes and color temperatures. They work just fine, but I primarily use the Govee Home app or my Echo Dot (5th Gen) to control my Uplighter.

The Govee Home app is the best app for smart lights I’ve used to date – and I’ve tested a bunch of them. After taking a few moments to sync with the Uplighter, the app gave me access to a range of device settings, including preset features, smart home assistant, and Matter syncing.

More excitingly, there’s a boatload of preset scenes to explore, from multi-colored aurora effects to floating mists from the ripple light, to themed side and downlighter combos. There’s plenty of opportunity to finetune the effects, too, with DIY and AI creation sections, along with adjustable speed settings on many of the existing scenes.

There’s also a super convenient auto-run feature, which is great to have, especially if you don’t own a smart home assistant – it allows you to assign different scenes and settings to specific times of the day.

In summary, this is a fantastic, multi-functional lamp that makes an eye-catching feature, while also providing adjustable and convenient task lighting. So, if you love the sound of the Govee Uplighter Floor Lamp, I highly recommend purchasing one to experience its mesmerizing and colorful displays for yourself.

If you enjoy getting lost in captivating visuals to help you unwind, but you’re looking for something a little smaller, then I suggest checking out the Govee Table Lamp 2, which offers a huge range of stunning preset scenes, as well as a bunch of customizable settings. Better yet, if you happen to be looking for a smart speaker as well, the Govee Table Lamp 2 Pro comes with built-in JBL sound, and its larger size means there’s more space for all those calming colors to swirl about.

Govee Uplighter Floor Lamp review: Price and specs

Should I buy the Govee Uplighter Floor Lamp?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Govee Uplighter Floor Lamp review: Also consider

How I tested the Govee Uplighter Floor Lamp

• I used the Govee Uplighter Floor Lamp regularly over a few weeks
• I tested the different features and customizable settings
• I observed the brightness and visibility of the scenes in light and dark environments

I used the Govee Uplighter Floor Lamp to light up my bedroom and living room ceilings with colorful loveliness for a few weeks. I also used the downlighter as a gentle source of light in the evening, as well as task lighting whenever required.

I explored all of the Uplighter’s features, trying out the different preset scenes, creating my own, and experimenting with various lamp combinations.

I used the app regularly for customization, but I mostly used voice control to power it on and off, via my Amazon Echo Dot.

I used the Govee Uplighter Floor Lamp in my living room most days, and moved it to my bedroom so that I could enjoy the calming ripple effect lighting while lying in bed. I used it on sunny days and at night, so that I could assess how visible the effects were with various levels of ambient light.

• First reviewed: November 2025
• Read more about how we test

As a self-confessed color addict who tests smart lights for my day job, I couldn’t help but get excited when the vibrant and versatile Govee Uplighter Floor Lamp was released earlier this year.

When I first started testing it, I had the Govee Uplighter Floor Lamp flooding my slanted living room ceiling with breathtaking aurora fabulousness, and now I’m not sure I can do without those pretty hues swirling gently over my head.

While the uplighter is impressive enough on its own, the Govee Uplighter Floor Lamp is no one-trick pony. It offers three independent lighting zones, though it’s only capable of using two at a time at this stage.

The other two lighting zones are the subtle but satisfying sidelight, which is the colorful section within the clear shade, and the dimmable lower light, which can shine as bright as 1000lm and has adjustable temperature, so I could set it to be as bright or warm as I liked, making it perfect for bedtime reading.

I love the combo of capabilities the Uplighter offers. The lower light has been fantastic as a gentle light source on dark evenings, and I can easily switch between having a bright and colorful shade or full-on aurora borealis bliss.

It’s hard not to feel calmed by the pulsating ripples from the Uplighter, and with over 80 scene modes and DIY or AI scene creating tools, you can fine-tune the output to perfection. If your sensory needs mean that you find certain visual stimuli particularly soothing, or someone else in your life does, then this is definitely a smart lamp to keep an eye out for this Black Friday.

At a list price of $179.99 / £179.99, the Govee Uplighter Floor Lamp isn’t exactly a budget buy, but with its convenient and well-performing smart functions and gorgeous, versatile lighting effects, you’re getting plenty for your money here.

Despite only launching four months ago, I spied a fantastic deal on the Govee Uplighter Floor Lamp in the recent Amazon Prime Day sales, with the price dropping by a tempting $40 / £45, lowering it to just $139.99 / £134.99.

Govee isn’t shy about offering discounts, with the majority of their products being discounted at some point or another. With that in mind, and after spotting that great deal on Prime Day, I highly suspect we’ll be seeing a similar price drop come Black Friday.

So if, like me, you have a particular weakness for devices that are pretty and practical, I highly recommend taking a look at the Govee Uplighter Floor Lamp, and grabbing a deal with both hands if it does go down in price next month.

If you want to see more of our favorites, why not check out our pick of the best smart lights? And if you’re interested in getting any idea of the kind of deals we could expect on other tech, from small appliances and vacuums to audio gear and TVs, then take a look at our selection of the best Black Friday deals from 2024.

If you sometimes have trouble waking up in the winter, you're not alone. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine suggests that the shorter daylight hours during winter can throw off your body's timings, making you feel more sleepy and sluggish during the day.

If this is seriously affecting your everyday life then you should speak to your doctor about the possibility of seasonal affective disorder (SAD). According to to the NHS, signs of SAD can include persistent low mood, irritability, loss of pleasure or interest in normal activities, and difficulty concentrating. Your doctor will be able to listen to your experiences, and suggest lifestyle changes, therapies, or other treatments that can help.

If you're not experiencing serious problems and are just finding yourself a little more reluctant than normal to pry yourself out of your warm bed, a wake-up light might help make mornings a little easier. These are special lamps that work by simulating a sunrise, slowly brightening over the course of several minutes rather than jolting you awake like the alarm on your phone. Think of being gently roused by sunlight filtering into your tent on a camping trip, and you'll have the right idea.

I've tested a lot of the best wake-up lights during my time at TechRadar, and overall there's one that really shines: the Philips Hue Play Wall Washer.

Simulated sunrise

If you're familiar with Philips Hue lights, you might be surprised that my number one pick is the Wall Washer rather than the Philips Hue Twilight, which is designed specifically for use on your nightstand. Turn both lamps around and you'll see that they are quite similar, with a stack of LEDs down the back that throw a diffuse gradient of color onto your wall.

The key difference is that the Twilight also has a front-facing task light for reading before bed, but the Wall Washer has the edge when it comes to versatility. When connected to a Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box it can become part of your home theater system, synchronizing with what's on your TV screen to make movies and games more immersive − something the Twilight can't do.

The Wall Washer is more discreet too, looking less like a conventional table lamp, so you can place it anywhere you want to add some indirect lighting.

Whether you choose the Twilight or the Wall Washer, it's those stacked rear lights that provide the gentle illumination necessary to help you fall asleep and wake gradually, and they shift brightness more smoothly than any other lamp I've tried. Even the premium Philips SmartSleep Sleep and Wake-Up Light can't compare. That's important, because sudden changes in illumination can shock you awake as abruptly as a trilling phone.

Color temperature is also important. Some wake-up lamps only have one light temperature setting, but the Twilight and Wall Washer gradually change from warm to cool light like a real dawn. Both also start out extremely dim, ramping up the brightness gradually so you're not jarred into consciousness.

Soft sounds

Nature sounds are a feature you won't get with either of these lamps, but personally I don't think that's a bad thing.

Many of the wake-up lamps I've tested over the years offer a menu of audible options to help ease you in and out of sleep – usually nature sounds like birdsong or rainfall, with a dash of white noise. These can be useful, particularly if you're struggling with racing thoughts, but wake-up lights tend to play very short sound clips of sound on a loop, which tends to be more annoying than relaxing. They often have poor-quality speakers too, which make the sound doubly irritating. A five-second loop of a blackbird trapped in a cola can is nobody's idea of a good time.

If you want to fall asleep or wake to gentle ambient sounds, I think you'll be better off with something like the Soundcore Sleep A20, Bose Sleepbuds 2 or Amazfit Zenbuds. These are soft earbuds that play a selection of soothing sounds, are designed to be comfortable even when you're lying on your side, and can even track your sleep overnight (though you can't use them as regular Bluetooth headphones).

It's a good idea to have some sort of backup alarm, just in case the Wall Washer is so gentle and you're so exhausted that you manage to sleep right through, but in my experience that rarely happens – and even when it does, waking to an already lit room makes the switch to consciousness less of a shock.

It's transformed my mornings, and if you struggle to peel yourself off your pillow first thing, it might just help you, too.

Prime Day may have made an exit, taking some truly fantastic deals with it, but thankfully there are still some tempting savings on Govee smart lights at Amazon.

With the premium price tag associated with some brands, you may think that kitting out your home with smart lights will cost an arm and a leg, especially if you need extra kit like a hub for features to work, but this is where the budget-friendly smart lights from Govee save the day.

Govee offers a huge range of well-priced options from bulbs to decorative lighting, and better yet, they're still down to some ridiculously low prices, despite Prime Day coming to an end.

• Check out Amazon's full sale

I'm a huge smart light fan, to the point where I can't remember the last time I touched a light switch in my living room or bedroom, so I'm always excited when I spot big savings, especially when they apply to Govee products.

Below, I've picked out the best Govee smart light deals that'll make your face light up, whether you want to brighten up a room or enjoy the ambience of colorful lighting.

Amazon Prime Day Govee smart light deals in the US

Floor lamps

Table lamps

Gaming lights

Outdoor lighting

Here's what you missed

Amazon Prime Day Govee smart light deals in the UK

Bulbs

Floor lamps

Table lamps

Strip lights

Gaming lights

Outdoor lighting

Here's what you missed

Amazon's Prime Day sale in the US – quick links

• Amazon Devices: 50% off TVs, Ring & Fire Sticks
• Apple: AirPods + iPads from $99
• Back to school: deals from $5.99
• Beauty: 80% off toothbrushes & skincare
• Headphones: $120 off Bose, Apple & Sony
• Health: electric toothbrushes from $24.99
• Kitchen: 54% off Ninja, Nespresso & Keurig
• Laptops: record-low prices from $175
• Tablets: iPads and Samsung from $54.99
• Toys: 40% off Lego, scooters & Toniebox
• TVs: cheap TVs from $59.99
• Vacuums: Shark, Bissell & Dyson from $49.99

Amazon's Prime Day sale in the UK – quick links

• Amazon Devices: up to 50% off Echo & Ring
• Appliances: Ninja & De'Longhi from £29.99
• Gaming: Nintendo Switch 2 – in stock now
• Headphones: Anker & Sony from £15.98
• Health: up to 68% off Philips, Remington & Oral-B
• Home: fans from £12.99
• Laptops: Lenovo, Asus and HP from £159.99
• Phones: up to 20% off Apple & Samsung
• Tablets: Lenovo & Samsung from £119
• Toys: up to 50% off Lego & Mattel
• TVs: cheap TVs from £109
• Vacuums: Shark and eufy from £99
• Wearables: up to 25% off Huawei & Samsung

Nanoleaf Smart Multicolor Floor Lamp: Two-minute review

If there’s one thing I’ve come to appreciate about Nanoleaf’s smart lights since the release of the first-generation Essentials Smart Bulb, it's the company’s ability to offer excellent products at an affordable price. And that's been carried over to the Nanoleaf Smart Multicolor Floor Lamp, which was first revealed at CES in January 2025. It’s one of the cheaper smart floor lamps available at the time of writing and performs wonderfully well, which means you get good value for money here.

There’s nothing particularly standout about it – I suppose that might partly explain the lower price point – but it’s still packed full of features, including reacting to sound, screen mirroring and extensive customizable light scenes. There's even AI-enabled customizations here – just type a word and the app will spew out an appropriate light color palette.

It does require some assembly, which I was a little apprehensive about initially, but a little help from a short YouTube video from Nanoleaf had the lamp ready to be switched on in less than 20 minutes.

If you’re new to Nanoleaf, you’ll have an easy time of pairing it via the companion app – available for both iOS and Android – but I should mention that as someone who’s had multiple Nanoleaf products over the last few years, I ran into trouble as I hadn’t used many of them in a long time. I kept getting popup warnings that all my other Nanoleaf lights were offline, and that prevented me from connecting the floor lamp. Trying to pair each one back was a miserable experience, so I ended up deleting them – except for the Nanoleaf Essentials Light Strip that just refused to disappear (I still can’t figure out why) – which then made connecting the floor lamp via the QR code on the product (and its box) a lot easier.

When switched on for the first time, the Nanoleaf floor lamp defaults to a solid color light, but you can change that quickly enough in the app, where a plethora of user-created light combinations (or Scenes) are already available to preview and download. You can also create your own if you’re feeling adventurous.

It’s not the brightest floor lamp we’ve tested at TechRadar, topping out at 1,700 lumens. In comparison, the Philips Hue Signe Gradient lamp sits at 2,500 lumens (but costs a heck of a lot more too), while the Govee Floor Lamp Pro is 2,100 lumens. So while it won’t necessarily light up a large room brightly, the Nanoleaf Smart Multicolor Floor Lamp manages to create a moody ambience, even if you decide that a solid white (cool) or yellow (warm) light is what you prefer.

As with any other smart floor lamp like it, the Nanoleaf is best used as a wall washer – the light facing the wall – that’s what creates the atmosphere in the room and, if you happen to set it to full brightness with a white (or whitish) light, it can be very harsh on the eyes when you look at it directly.

The transition from one color to another is fantastic and I am yet to find a hue that I don't like – whether you prefer vivid and vibrant lights or pastel shades, the Nanoleaf floor lamp handles them just as well as all the other smart lights from the brand. It’s really quite lovely and I can’t complain about anything when it comes to its day-to-day performance.

I’m amazed at how many features Nanoleaf has managed to pack into this lamp. It has 24 color zones with 72 LEDs spread along it (so you can really go crazy with the customizations); it works via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or can be controlled via a Matter smart home hub; and it inherits the Rhythm Mode from Nanoleaf’s light panels that make the lamp react to the beat of the music playing in the room. Screen mirroring is also possible if you already use the Nanoleaf 4D kit on your TV (you’ll need the Nanoleaf desktop app for PC screen mirroring).

While there's no lag when it comes to using the Rhythm Mode or screen mirroring, I will say that the light palette doesn't always shift with the exact beat. And if you happen to be talking loudly over the music, you'll definitely confuse the lamp which will react to the bigger sounds in the room.

There's no arguing that it's a versatile smart light that requires no pre-planning to install (like the Nanoleaf panels) and, once fully set up, is easy to use. What it misses out on is the speaker on the base that you’ll find in the Philips Hue Signe Gradient and the Govee Floor Lamp Pro, but that didn’t bother me at all.

My biggest issue is with the Nanoleaf app. I’ve complained about it when testing the Essentials range and in my Nanoleaf Lines review, saying the app is not intuitive. Sadly that situation hasn't changed in the last a few years and it needs to be a little easier to use. Don't get me wrong, it's got everything you need for smart lights, but how the whole thing is set up could be a touch convoluted for some users.

Take the Routines tab, for example: I wanted to set up a weekday and a weekend routine where it switches on and off at set times. You can easily add a start time for a specific action, but there's no option to add the end time in the same routine. Instead, I found I needed to create a separate routine where the start time was essentially the end time with the action being the light being off. Schedules and routines shouldn't be this hard to do.

The Philips Hue app, on the other hand, is so easy to use, where the same functionality is allows you to add the start and end time within the same pane. Other smart home applications I've used also offer the same seamless scheduling, including TP-Link's Tapo app and Australian company Laser's ConnectSmart app.

The Nanoleaf app is necessary, though, particularly if you want to set up different Scenes (as the mixed-color lights are called) and customization is made easy via the AI Magic Scenes feature that allows you to type a word or short description to get a corresponding palette. You’ll also need it to integrate Google Home, Alexa, Samsung SmartThings or Apple HomeKit control. In fact, I much prefer using the Apple Home app on my iPhone 17 Pro, which also imports my favorite Scenes, while Siri automations makes it easy to control the floor lamp via voice commands.

If, like me, you’re frustrated with the app, there is a physical controller attached to the power cord and can be used to not just turn the lamp on or off, but also cycle through a few Scenes you’ve marked as your favorites. It also allows you to adjust brightness. That said, the controller is best used only after you’ve finished all your customizations on the app, or you may not like the color palettes that are set as default.

Despite my issues with the app, I can’t help but love the Nanoleaf Smart Multicolor Floor Lamp, and I applaud how affordable it is.

• Performance score: 4.5 / 5

Nanoleaf Smart Multicolor Floor Lamp review: price & availability

• List price: $119.99 / £69.99 / AU$149.99 in the US, UK and Australia respectively
• Available now directly from Nanoleaf or authorized retailers

Nanoleaf debuted the Smart Multicolor Floor Lamp at CES in January 2025, but it only became widely available in most major markets much later in the year. While the company announced it would retail for $99.99 in the US, that price has since gone up and it's now listed for $119.99 / £69.99 / AU$149.99.

Despite the slightly higher price in the US, that’s still an affordable amount for most people looking for a smart lamp. In comparison, the Philips Hue Signe Gradient floor lamp will set you back a whopping $362.99 / £279.99 / AU$499.95. The Govee Floor Lamp Pro costs $199.99 / £219.99 (it's unavailable in Australia), but can often be discounted to around $159 / £169, which is still higher than the full price of the Nanoleaf. Even the cheaper Govee Floor Lamp 2 costs more at $159.99 / £149.99 / AU$349.99.

Sure, the Nanoleaf misses out on the speaker base of some of the more premium smart lamps, but that’s about all, which makes it excellent bang for buck.

• Value score: 5 / 5

Nanoleaf Smart Multicolor Floor Lamp review: Specs

Nanoleaf Smart Multicolor Floor Lamp review: Design

• Slim, simple yet solid build
• Easy assembly
• Good height, but lacks speaker base

The Nanoleaf Smart Multicolor Floor Lamp comes in a few individual bits in the box that you'll need to put together. As I mentioned, I was a little apprehensive about that – DIY is not my forte – but Nanoleaf has easy-to-follow instruction videos online that provide better clarity than the diagrams in the user manual.

The main components are the circular metal base, the three sections of the semicircular pole (or stem) and the light strip that fits into the assembled pole. You screw the connectors to the sections of the stem, which then gets screwed to the tiny protrusion on the base.

The base houses a tiny connector, which is where you'll start pushing the bendy light strip into the pole. Nanoleaf suggests you fit the bottom, the top and middle, then push the rest of the strip in and not be afraid to tuck it into the base. It doesn't seem like the light strip will fit, but it surprisingly does.

Also in the box is the power cable that comes fitted with the controller. Once set up, the lamp stands 1.4 meters tall (4.59 feet), which I think is a nice height for a light like it.

I've lifted the lamp by the top of the stem and nothing has shaken loose, and neither does anything wobble despite being multiple pieces screwed together. It looks thin, but it seems quite sturdy to me. I do have to note that the base picks up dusty scuff marks easily, but those can be wiped off. I would, however, be a little concerned about scratches in the long run.

• Design score: 4.5 / 5

Should I buy the Nanoleaf Smart Multicolor Floor Lamp

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Nanoleaf Smart Multicolor Floor Lamp review: Alternatives

Not sure if the Nanoleaf floor lamp is right for you? Below are a couple of alternatives that you could consider instead.

How I tested the Nanoleaf Smart Multicolor Floor Lamp

As soon as I opened the box that the lamp came in, I began the assembly process. The user manual has diagrams only to help with the setup, but you can find videos on Nanoleaf's website or its YouTube channel if you're having trouble.

Once powered on, I paired it via the Nanoleaf app and, despite the issues I described earlier, I was then able to choose some light scenes to get me started. That done, I integrated it into the Apple HomeKit app as another accessory.

I created one of my own light scenes, but didn't try another as it can be quite time consuming. Instead, I browsed a variety of user-created options and downloaded about 10 that I really liked.

I was unfortunately unable to try the lamp with my other Nanoleaf lights as I had trouble re-pairing them to the app (due to inactivity), so I tested different features on the lamp alone. I placed it in different spots in my living room, finally liking it beside a console table that houses my Sonos Ikea Symfonisk picture frame speaker, which was ideal to test out the Rhythm Mode.

I finally tried setting up routines on the Nanoleaf app, but ended up setting up schedules via HomeKit instead, which works fine for my needs.

You can read more about how we test products at TechRadar for more details.

[First published October 2025]

Govee Table Lamp 2 Pro x Sound by JBL review

The Govee Table Lamp 2 Pro x Sound by JBL is a smart lamp and Bluetooth speaker combo that enables you to switch up the vibe in moments.

Available to purchase directly from the Govee website or at Amazon, the Govee Table Lamp 2 Pro x Sound by JBL has a list price of $179.99 / £169.99. While the price is certainly on the steep side, if you’re already a big Govee fan and want to save space by incorporating a speaker into your smart light setup, this would be a good way to go about it.

Having said that, the Govee Table Lamp 2 Pro x Sound by JBL already been subject to a $20 / £20 discount in the Govee Fall sale, which sweetens the deal a little. That's despite the fact that it has only been available in the US for around 11 weeks, and less than a week in the UK, at the time of writing.

Being so used to the Govee Table Lamp 2, which I happen to have two of, the Govee Table Lamp 2 Pro x Sound by JBL looks a little on the chonky side. This is understandable, considering it’s packing a speaker and a 5,200mAh rechargeable battery, which can provide up to four and a half hours of playback if the volume and brightness are set to fifty percent.

There’s a notable difference between the US and UK models when it comes to the power cable. The connector is set at a 90-degree angle in both cases, as the power port is located on the bottom of the lamp, but the US uses a small DC connector, and the UK uses USB-C.

More importantly, the cable for the US model is moulded to a US plug, so you can just plug and play; but in the UK, a USB-C cable is all that’s included, so I needed to source an adapter with a minimum of 35W for it to run efficiently. The first adapter I had to hand turned out to be too low-powered, and the lamp was clearly unimpressed.

Getting the Govee Table Lamp 2 Pro x Sound by JBL synced with the app and with the WiFi networks in the office and at home was a quick and simple process. There are two separate Bluetooth connections, one for the lamp itself and one for the speaker. I found this a little inconvenient at times, as it seemed I needed to reconnect the speaker in my phone’s Bluetooth settings whenever I’d been out of the room. But overall, it makes sense that it’s set up this way, as one may want to listen to music on their headphones while still enjoying the features of the lamp.

There are two elements of the Govee Table Lamp 2 Pro x Sound by JBL’s design that provide eye-catching lighting effects. These are the main body of the lamp, as you’d expect, but also the base, thanks to its clever reflective design. Both elements can be used independently or together, so you can have your lighting effects as stand-out or as subtle as you’d like.

The control panel on the top of the Govee Table Lamp 2 Pro x Sound by JBL was simple to use, with a push power button and four touch buttons for the speakers' volume controls, playing and pausing, and a button for cycling through nine customizable presets.

My favorite way to control the Govee Table Lamp 2 Pro x Sound by JBL – and all the Govee products I’ve tested, actually – is by taking advantage of the voice control via my Echo Dot (5th Gen) or hopping onto the feature-packed Govee Home app.

If you’ve already read some of my other product reviews, such as the highly rated Govee Neon Rope Light 2, you’ll already have some idea of how fond I am of the Govee Home app.

Along with the run-of-the-mill power, brightness, and volume controls, it also boasts over 100 preset scenes, with themes ranging from the ocean to the universe. The Govee Home app offers opportunities to get creative with lighting effects, too, with a finger sketch feature that allows you to decorate the canvas with random colors or drawings before choosing a motion setting and speed, as well as an AI effect generator.

One small niggle I have stems from the preset audio that plays by default when some of the scenes are selected. I found some of them to be somewhat irritating, especially if they caught me by surprise when cycling through the default presets using the onboard controls. Fortunately, they can be disabled in the app, but only one at a time, so I had to go through and turn them off for all of my favorite scenes that were afflicted.

The audio quality was as I expected from a JBL speaker, by which I mean it was a solid performer. The treble sounds clean, and I could hear a good level of definition in the high-pitched percussion in the background of Sunny Days by Kolter. The bass lacks some impact, but it still has a good weight to it and isn’t bad going, considering the price. Unless you happen to be an audiophile, you’ll probably be perfectly happy with the audio quality on offer here.

The Dynamic Music feature added some fun when listening to music, especially the Gridding and Ripple effects, and was enjoyed by everyone in my office. I did notice they can struggle to hit the right notes if the track has a lot of different elements, but it’s nonetheless a fun dynamic effect, especially when paired with bass-heavy tracks.

Overall, the Govee Table Lamp 2 Pro x Sound by JBL offers eye-catching and day-brightening lighting effects and a satisfying-sounding speaker for the price. So, if you love the look of the Govee Table Lamp 2 and want a solid speaker to listen to tunes, podcasts, or audiobooks, then you’ll be happy wth the Govee Table Lamp 2 Pro x Sound by JBL.

If you’re in the mood to check out more ambience-altering lighting, then why not take a look at our pick of the best smart lights?

Govee Table Lamp 2 Pro x Sound by JBL review: Price and specs

Should I buy the Govee Table Lamp 2 Pro x Sound by JBL?

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Govee Table Lamp 2 Pro x Sound by JBL review: Also consider

How I tested the Govee Table Lamp 2 Pro x Sound by JBL

• I tested the Govee Table Lamp 2 Pro x Sound by JBL for a couple of weeks
• I tested the different features and customizable settings
• I observed its performance as a smart light and as a speaker

I used the Govee Table Lamp 2 Pro x Sound by JBL on my desk and next to my bed for a couple of weeks.

I followed the setup process on the Govee Home app and explored its features, testing how different scenes looked, and used the creative features to create my own.

I tested the audio quality by listening to different genres of music and bumping up the volume to assess the output at higher levels.

• First reviewed: September 2025
• Read more about how we test

I've tested a load of smart lights, and I'm so pleased to see this generous discount on my favourite smart lamp. If you're in the market for something that's as pretty as it is convenient, then I highly recommend checking this deal out: you can now get the Govee Table Lamp 2 at Amazon for £49.99 (was £69.99).

This recent price drop is a very good one, knocking a tremendous £20 off the list price, which makes it fabulous value for money. This isn't the cheapest we've seen the Govee Table Lamp 2 on offer for, but as the difference is only £4, it's still a great deal.

Today's best Govee Table Lamp 2 deal UK

The Govee Table Lamp 2 offers a wide range of lighting effects, so it's satisfyingly versatile. It boasts a whole bunch of preset scenes with themes from the forest to the ocean, and cherry blossoms to aurora-filled skies. What's more, there's a great range of customizable features, and there's a lovely Share Space, where you can swap or share creations with other Govee users.

I've found the Govee Table Lamp 2 to be gloriously convenient to use, thanks to its array of lighting options to suit different scenarios, plus its compatibility with smart home assistants, playing well with some of the best smart home devices.

So, while it may not be in the official lineup right now, I personally consider the Govee Table Lamp 2 to be one of the best smart lights, and highly recommend taking advantage of this deal.

WiZ Filament Bulb review

The WiZ Filament Bulb Clear 25W ST19 E26 is a color-changing smart bulb that features a coiled LED strip in place of a traditional filament.

It’s available in the US and the UK under slightly different names to reflect the difference in wattage, bulb shape, and fitment, but they have the same feature set and look very similar.

Known as the WiZ Filament Bulb Clear 25W ST19 E26 in the US, or the WiZ Filament Bulb Clear 40 W ST64 E27 in the UK, it has a list price of $32.99 / £27.99, and can be found at WiZ and Amazon.

I love the Filament Bulb’s classic shape, and was pleased to find that it didn’t feel overly fragile. I have mixed opinions about the coiled LED strip. I found it looked nice in warmer whites and red, but due to the combination of different colored LEDs, it proved a bit of an eyesore when in other colors, with the brightness turned up when using it in my lamp.

If you want a light that can light up a room in addition to providing some nice mood lighting, then this bulb won’t be suitable. It’ll just about do as a reading light if your book is positioned right next to it, but it’s not ideal – although I believe this is often the case due to the nature of filament-style bulbs.

While it looks pretty on certain settings, the width of the LED strip may prove off-putting if you’re looking for a more authentic-looking filament bulb. If so, you may be better off looking for a non-color filament-style alternative, which you can also find from WiZ, Philips Hue, and various other brands.

The Filament Bulb was pleasingly straightforward to sync with the WiZ V2 app, as it was automatically detected, and it connected to my Wi-Fi quickly and without any fuss.

Unfortunately, the WiZ V2 app isn’t as intuitive as the Govee and Nanoleaf companion apps – although it would take a lot for an app to compare to the Govee Home app, which you’ll have probably guessed if you’ve already read my review of the Govee Table Lamp 2. Despite this, the WiZ V2 app provides access to a variety of useful functions, such as the control menu, which offers some static presets that include warm and cool options, and night, TV, and relax lighting modes, along with a few others.

I could also choose hues from a color graph, adjust the color temperature using a slider, or choose one of the twenty-five dynamic presets, each offering different color palettes and motions. I could also alter the speed of the color changes, though this adjustment was applied to all of the dynamic presets, rather than individually.

The brightness was easy to adjust using a slider on the home screen or when adjusting settings in the control menu. Thanks to the rhythm function, which I set to change between different modes based on the local time, I was able to get the brightness and color temperature to adjust automatically throughout the day. There’s also a schedule feature, which I used to get the Filament Bulb to turn off at a set time.

I found the Filament Bulb could be slow to respond when switching between the Dynamic lights. And it was also a bit long-winded applying each one, as it asked me which room I wanted to apply it to each time, despite only having one setup. But I could set four of my preferred light settings on the home screen, up to eighteen in the quick action folder, or save them as scenes, so at least the process was quicker once I’d picked my favorites.

On the subject of scenes, I found it far more efficient to fine-tune the lighting effect I wanted in the control menu before saving it as a scene. While the same settings are available when creating a new scene, the bulb didn’t immediately reflect any changes I made. Instead I would only get to check the result after creating and enabling the new scene, which wasn’t ideal, meaning it was often better to tweak the lighting settings first.

Connecting the Filament Bulb to my Echo Dot (5th Gen) was nice and simple, as it was automatically detected by my Alexa app. I needed to put the Filament Bulb into pairing mode, which was a case of switching the light off and on until it began to pulse blue, and the syncing process took just moments to complete. I could then use voice commands to get the Filament Bulb to change colors, temperature, and brightness, which was very convenient, especially as my requested changes were applied promptly.

Despite the disappointing elements of the app, once I’d fine-tuned the lighting effects and set up the automations and voice control, I quite enjoyed testing the Filament Bulb. Overall, I was pleased with the quality for the price. So, if you’re looking for a vintage-style bulb with modern smart features and want to change up the ambience with a little color, it’s worth checking out the WiZ Filament Bulb Clear 25W ST19 E26.

If you love smart lighting as much as I do and want to explore some other fantastic options, then I highly recommend checking out our best smart lights buying guide.

WiZ Filament Bulb review: Price and specs

Should I buy the WiZ Filament Bulb?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

WiZ Filament Bulb review: Also consider

How I tested the WiZ Filament Bulb

• I tested the WiZ Filament Bulb for one week
• I tested the different features and customizable settings
• I observed its performance and brightness levels

I used the WiZ Filament Bulb on my desk in my office and in my living room. I screwed the bulb into a table lamp before powering it on and evaluating the setup process on the WiZ V2 companion app.

I explored the features, testing how different colors and settings looked, and created my own presets and scenes. I also tested how bright the bulb was both in daylight and in a dark room.

I synced the WiZ Filament Bulb with my Alexa app to check how straightforward the process was and to test out voice commands, which I did by altering the brightness, colors, and powering the bulb on and off.

• First reviewed: September 2025
• Read more about how we test