GoKawiilis a senior reviewer with over twenty years of experience. She covers smart home, IoT, and connected tech, and has written previously for Wirecutter, Wired, Dwell, BBC, and US News.
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Philips Hue has announced a connectivity upgrade for its Matter-over-Thread-enabled smart bulbs that will allow them to run both Thread and Zigbee at the same time. The change means you can connect compatible Hue bulbs and fixtures directly to a Matter ecosystem — Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, or Google Home — while keeping them linked to a Hue Bridge and the Hue ecosystem.
“Today you cannot have Zigbee and Thread running at the same time, so when you commission it, you have to choose,” Philips Hue CTO George Yianni told The Verge. “If you want to then later switch, you have to reset it.”
The same is true of dual-protocol products from companies like Aqara and Ikea (their new Matter-over-Thread devices can also use Zigbee’s Touchlink).
Hue’s upcoming update is enabled by a radio synchronization feature developed by Hue’s chip supplier, Silicon Labs, called concurrent multiprotocol technology (CMP). The technology allows Bluetooth, Zigbee, and Thread to run in parallel.
“This means a light can be linked to a Hue Bridge or a Hue remote control and the Thread network,” says Yianni. “It will listen to both sets of commands and respond without you having to think about switching or setting it up differently.”
The Silicon Labs chip in the newer Hue bulbs enables the concurrent multiprotocol technology. Image: SI Labs
The feature will roll out later this year to Hue’s most recent devices built on Silicon Labs’ MG26 and SiMG301 wireless SoCs, which launched late last year. “It was always the plan to do that; it just wasn’t quite ready at launch,” says Yianni.
Interestingly, the Qorvo chip Ikea uses in its devices is capable of a similar technology, called ConcurrentConnect. One advantage of enabling both radios is that powered devices could serve as mesh extenders. So your Hue bulbs could help support your Thread network.
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