A single bulb can participate in multiple smart home ecosystems at once
For more than a decade, smart home lighting has asked consumers to choose their allegiance — to one ecosystem, one protocol, one walled garden. Signify and Silicon Labs announced on June 23, 2026 that new Philips Hue bulbs, built on Silicon Labs' dual-protocol chips, will soon run both the legacy Zigbee standard and the emerging Matter over Thread simultaneously, dissolving a choice that has long frustrated households with mixed devices. The move reflects a broader reckoning in consumer technology: that interoperability is not a luxury but a precondition for trust, and that the most durable platforms are those willing to speak every language in the room.
- Smart home fragmentation has quietly taxed millions of consumers for years, forcing them to sacrifice either premium features or broad compatibility whenever they add a new device.
- Signify and Silicon Labs have now staked a technical claim that the tradeoff is unnecessary, embedding concurrent multiprotocol hardware directly into new Hue bulbs.
- The rollout creates a temporary tension of its own: bulbs are shipping now, but users must still choose a single protocol at setup until a software update arrives later in 2026.
- That forthcoming update is the real inflection point — the moment a single bulb can simultaneously serve a Zigbee ecosystem and a Matter-based platform without reconfiguration.
- For Signify, a company with 5.8 billion euros in 2025 sales and presence in over 70 markets, the partnership is as much a defensive maneuver as an innovation — keeping Hue indispensable as the industry's technical ground shifts beneath it.
Philips Hue smart bulbs are about to speak two languages at once. Signify, the Dutch company behind Hue, and Austin-based semiconductor maker Silicon Labs announced their partnership on June 23, 2026, built around a capability called concurrent multiprotocol communication — allowing a single bulb to run both Zigbee, the protocol underpinning Hue's ecosystem for years, and Matter over Thread, the newer standard designed to unify a fractured smart home industry.
The problem the partnership solves is familiar to anyone who has assembled a smart home from multiple brands. Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings each pull in different directions, and until now a Hue bulb had to pick a side. Staying within the Hue ecosystem meant access to dynamic scenes, entertainment synchronization, and deep automation — but at the cost of broader compatibility. Embracing Matter meant interoperability, but a loss of the premium experiences that justified Hue's price. The new chips, Silicon Labs' MG26 and SiMG301, carry the hardware and software architecture to make both available at once.
The rollout is already in motion, with new bulbs entering the product line now. There is, however, a transitional constraint: at setup, users currently choose one protocol or the other. The full concurrent experience — where a single bulb participates in multiple ecosystems without any compromise — arrives via software update later in 2026. That update is the moment the partnership's promise becomes tangible for consumers.
For Signify, which reported 5.8 billion euros in sales in 2025 and operates across more than 70 markets, the move is both an innovation and a hedge. Hue's decade-long dominance in premium smart lighting depends on remaining relevant as the industry's technical foundations evolve. By supporting Matter without abandoning Zigbee, the company keeps its bulbs valuable to users migrating toward new platforms while protecting the ecosystem that built the brand. The software update later this year will be the clearest signal of whether that balance holds.
Philips Hue smart bulbs are about to do something they couldn't do before: run two wireless protocols at the same time. On the same device. Without compromise.
Signify, the Dutch lighting company behind Hue, and Silicon Labs, a semiconductor maker based in Austin, announced the partnership on June 23, 2026. The collaboration centers on a technical capability called concurrent multiprotocol communication—the ability to let a single bulb speak both Zigbee, the protocol that has powered Hue's ecosystem for years, and Matter over Thread, the newer standard that's supposed to unify the fractured smart home industry.
Why this matters is straightforward: consumers own devices from different manufacturers. Some people have Apple Home. Others use Amazon Alexa or Google Home. Still others prefer Samsung SmartThings or stick with Philips Hue's own ecosystem. Until now, a smart bulb had to pick a side. You could have the advanced features Hue is known for—dynamic lighting scenes, entertainment synchronization, automation—but only if you stayed within the Hue ecosystem. Or you could embrace Matter for simplicity and broad compatibility, but lose the premium experiences that made Hue worth buying in the first place. The partnership dissolves that choice.
The new bulbs use Silicon Labs' MG26 and SiMG301 wireless chips, which contain the hardware and software architecture needed to run both protocols simultaneously. George Yianni, the chief technology officer for Philips Hue at Signify, framed it as removing complexity while preserving what users love. "Matter represents an important step forward for the smart home industry because it makes connected devices easier to set up and use," he said. "Our collaboration with Silicon Labs allows us to support the interoperability consumers want through Matter while preserving the advanced capabilities, entertainment experiences, and innovation available through the Hue ecosystem."
The rollout is already underway. Select Philips Hue bulbs with the new chips are available now or being introduced across the product line. But there's a catch: right now, users have to choose which protocol to use when they set up the bulb. You pick Zigbee or Thread at commissioning time. The real magic—the ability to run both simultaneously without that choice—arrives later in 2026 via a software update. Once that lands, a single bulb can participate in multiple smart home ecosystems at once, bridging the installed base of Zigbee devices with the future that Matter promises.
Ross Sabolcik, senior vice president of product lines at Silicon Labs, positioned the collaboration as a philosophical statement about the smart home's future. "The future of the smart home isn't about choosing one ecosystem over another—it's about giving consumers the freedom to use the products and platforms they prefer." The partnership builds on a long-standing relationship between the two companies and reflects what both describe as a commitment to open standards and user-centric design.
For Signify, which reported 5.8 billion euros in sales in 2025 and operates in over 70 markets, the move is a hedge against fragmentation. Hue has been the premium lighting brand in smart homes for over a decade, but that dominance depends on staying relevant as the industry's technical foundations shift. By supporting Matter without abandoning Zigbee, Signify keeps Hue bulbs valuable to users who are migrating to Matter-based platforms while protecting the ecosystem that made the brand powerful in the first place. The software update later this year will be the moment consumers actually feel the difference.
Citações Notáveis
Matter represents an important step forward for the smart home industry because it makes connected devices easier to set up and use. Our collaboration with Silicon Labs allows us to support the interoperability consumers want through Matter while preserving the advanced capabilities available through the Hue ecosystem.— George Yianni, Chief Technology Officer, Philips Hue at Signify
The future of the smart home isn't about choosing one ecosystem over another—it's about giving consumers the freedom to use the products and platforms they prefer.— Ross Sabolcik, Senior Vice President of Product Lines, Silicon Labs
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does it matter that a bulb can run two protocols at once? Isn't one enough?
Because right now, smart homes are split. You have Zigbee devices, Matter devices, proprietary ecosystems. A bulb that only speaks one language can't fully participate in all of them. Hue's been built on Zigbee—that's where all the advanced features live. But Matter is becoming the standard everyone's adopting. Users don't want to choose. They want both.
So this is about not forcing people to pick sides.
Exactly. Before this, if you wanted Hue's premium lighting scenes and entertainment sync, you stayed in the Hue ecosystem. If you wanted Matter's simplicity and broad compatibility, you gave up those features. This partnership says you don't have to make that trade anymore.
But the bulbs available now still require that choice, right? At setup time?
Yes. The concurrent operation—running both protocols truly simultaneously—doesn't arrive until the software update later in 2026. Right now it's a stepping stone. But once that update lands, a single bulb can be part of your Apple Home setup and your Hue ecosystem at the same time.
What does that do for Signify as a company?
It's insurance. Hue's been dominant because it built a rich ecosystem that other platforms couldn't match. But dominance only lasts if you stay relevant. Matter is becoming the industry standard. By supporting it without abandoning Zigbee, Signify keeps Hue valuable to users migrating to Matter while protecting the ecosystem that made the brand powerful.
Is this a sign that Zigbee is dying?
Not dying. Evolving. Zigbee will probably remain strong in existing installations and in specialized use cases. But Matter is designed to be the common language. This partnership is about bridging the two worlds—letting users live in both simultaneously rather than forcing a migration.
Who benefits most from this?
Users, ultimately. They get flexibility without sacrifice. But Signify benefits too—they stay competitive as the smart home landscape shifts. And Silicon Labs gets to showcase its concurrent multiprotocol technology as the solution to the industry's fragmentation problem.