These new Philips Hue outdoor lights should be on your 2021 garden plans

There's going to be a lot of great garden upgrades happening this year, so it's perfect timing that the Philips Hue outdoor lights range has been expanded with great new options. There’s a new linear spotlight to paint entire walls with colour, and a redesigned wall light – and owners of indoor Philips Hue bulbs haven’t been forgotten about either. For them, there’s a new dimmer switch.

We think the Hue white and ambience bulbs are the best smart bulbs available, but the outdoor range is a lot smaller than the massive and ever-expanding selection of indoor lighting, so the new outdoor options are very welcome. Don't forget to keep your eye on our list of the best Philips Hue deals if you want cheap ways to get into smart lighting!

Let there be (more) light

Hue’s outdoor lighting plans were leaked just before Christmas, but one of the product names has changed since then: what was expected to be called the Hue Wave Linear is now the Philips Hue Amarant. We looked it up: in poetry, it’s an imaginary flower that never fades.

The name may be different but the job it’s designed to do is the same: it’s designed to paint large bare walls with washes of light, and it gives you a palette of millions of colours to choose from. The Hue Amarant can be mounted on the floor or upside down on an overhanging roof, and as it’s part of the Philips Hue LowVolt range it can be extended and daisy-chained with other Philips Hue outdoor lights, so it's much easier to install multiples of them.

A refreshed wall light and a new dimmer too

Philips has also freshened up two other Philips Hue products. The Philips Hue Appear is a wall-mounted outdoor light with light sources at the top and bottom to create a subtle but powerful effect, and like the Amarant it lets you choose between white light and millions of colours. The existing model is black, but for 2021 it’s been given a brushed stainless steel finish to make it look more premium. 

Philips has also redesigned the dimmer switch for its Hue indoor lights, which enables you to control your lights without reaching for your phone or tablet. It’s not a dramatic redesign but it’s a little simpler and its mounting plate is a better size. One of the nicest features of the dimmer is that the removable switch is wireless and magnetic, so you can put it anywhere: on the fridge, on a metal door frame or wherever else you fancy.

Philips Hue Amarant and Appear: release date and price

The Philips Hue Amarant will be £129/$169, while the Hue Appear Stainless Steel will be £129 (we're not sure about a US release for it currently), and the new Hue dimmer switch is £17.99/$24.99. All three Hue products will go on sale on January 26, 2021 in the UK. In the US, the dimmer will be out on February 23rd, and the Amarant on March 2nd.