Philips Hue Is Adding Hardwired Wall Switches to Its Smart Lighting System
Philips Hue Is Adding Hardwired Wall Switches to Its Smart Lighting System
Philips Hue has announced a new family of wall switches that plug directly into your home's electrical wiring. Available in Europe starting June 2026, the lineup includes the Wired On/Off Switch, Wired Dimmer Switch, and Wired Wall Switch Module, according to a company announcement from June 16, 2026.
The most significant product here is the Wired Wall Switch Module. If you already use Hue, you may own battery-powered dimmer switches. Those switches need fresh batteries periodically. The wired module, by contrast, draws power from your home's electrical circuit, so it never needs a battery.
Why This Matters
If you've used a smart lightbulb, you've likely run into a common problem. When you flip the wall switch to turn the light off, you cut power to the bulb itself — which also cuts the radio signal that lets the bulb talk to your Hue system and home automation. The bulb goes dark on your phone app, and any scheduled automations involving that light stop working until someone walks over and flips the switch back on.
The wired switch fixes this by keeping the bulb constantly powered while still giving you a physical button to control the light. In technical terms, it sits between the electrical line and the bulb, routing control signals through your Hue system rather than cutting power. To you, it feels like a normal wall switch. Behind the scenes, your smart bulb stays connected.
This type of in-wall relay device exists elsewhere in the smart-home market — companies like Fibaro and Aeotec make similar products. What Philips Hue offers here is simplicity: the switch works directly with the Hue app and Hue Bridge (the hub that controls your lights) without requiring extra software or third-party apps to translate between systems.
Timing and the Broader Picture
A new smart-home standard called Matter has been spreading across the industry since 2022. Signify, the company behind Philips Hue, already sells a Hue Bridge that supports Matter. The new wired switches, however, use Zigbee — the wireless standard Hue has used for years — rather than Matter's Thread protocol.
This is worth noting because it raises a question about the future. As Matter becomes more common, manufacturers may eventually move away from Zigbee entirely. These new switches stick with the existing approach, which works well for people already using Hue, but it leaves open the question of where Hue's accessory line will settle once the smart-home market fully shifts to Matter.
Who This Is For
For people building or renovating a home, wired switches offer a cleaner solution than battery-powered alternatives. When you're already opening up your walls to redo electrical circuits, adding a hardwired smart switch takes no extra effort and saves you from managing batteries down the road. The company's two-pack option also suggests Signify is thinking about rooms with multiple switches — like hallways or staircases — rather than just single-light scenarios.
Signify has not yet announced pricing or availability outside Europe. For now, these switches are coming to the European market in June 2026.
Looking Ahead
For households already invested in Philips Hue, this new product line fills a practical gap. Wired switches work better than batteries for permanent installations, and they integrate cleanly with your existing Hue setup. Whether Signify will eventually update these switches to use the newer Matter standard is an open question, but for the moment, they extend what Hue can do without requiring you to replace your existing system.
