According to the Dutch site iCulture, Philips is adding a couple of new gizmos to its repertoire of smart home products, including a smart plug that will work with a bunch of different platforms including Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, and even Apple’s complex HomeKit ecosystem.
Philips is pretty late getting into the game, given that companies like Amazon, Belkin, and Lenovo are already competing with companies that want their smart plug to get a piece of the smart home pie. However, given Philip’s focus on the Hue range of products, with a sharp focus on lighting and atmosphere, the company could have an advantage, especially with consumers who already favor Philips’ wide array of smart home products.
The new plug will reportedly cost $25 in the U.S. market and 29 pounds across the pond.
If you’re not familiar with smart plugs yet, they can perform a whole bunch of different actions, depending on which smart home platform or app you’ve adopted. Most importantly, they can enable users to remotely turn off or turn on the power to an appliance. What you use it for is only limited to your imagination but common uses include lights, fans, humidifiers, and air filters, among other nice-to-have appliances like washing machines.
According to a translation of iCulture’s post, “With this plug you can, according to Philips, operate all lamps with Philips Hues.” You can also use schedules, timers and sensors to control the connected devices via your smart home hub, while voice control is (naturally) available for linking via the aforementioned Apple Siri, Google Assistant, and Amazon Alexa.
The reported leak is significant, given the massive rollout that Philips has been telegraphing for months in terms of its smart home lineup. The other announcement that came out this week was the revelation of a new version of Philips’ Hue Go portable light, which are these nifty atmospheric filament lamps. It’s reported that the company will offer three versions of the lamps, which are compatible with both Bluetooth and Zigbee. These will include a small round lamp, a large round lamp, and an elongated variant, priced in a range from around $25 U.S. to a shade under $40 U.S., depending on the model and the market.
Other new devices rumored to be coming from Philips include a range of fixtures with embedded spotlights and new bathroom lights intended to accent the bathroom mirror in your home.
