Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus: flexible smart lighting for accent and ambiance

Responsible: ad hoc news Classics & Long-sellers Desk. Reviewed prior to publication on June 14, 2026 at 1:30:40 PM ET. Details in the imprint.

The Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus is one of the most recognizable smart light strips in the consumer market, designed to add color accents and indirect lighting under cabinets, behind TVs, along shelves, and around architectural details. It is part of Signify's Philips Hue smart lighting ecosystem and is sold as a base kit that can be extended with additional lightstrip segments to reach longer runs. The current generation supports millions of colors, tunable white light, and works with the Philips Hue app for precise brightness and scene control. For U.S. shoppers, the Lightstrip Plus is widely available at major retailers in-store and online, including Amazon, Best Buy, and the official Philips Hue store.

What the Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus does

The Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus is a flexible LED light strip designed for indoor use, delivering both white and color ambiance lighting along its entire length. It ships as a 2 meter (about 6.6 feet) starter strip with pre-applied adhesive backing, allowing users to mount it under kitchen cabinets, behind headboards, under couches, or along media consoles without separate brackets or tracks. The strip can be cut at marked points to fit specific spaces more precisely, and the system supports extension strips that connect to the base unit to extend up to a manufacturer-specified maximum length on a single driver. In practice, this makes the product suitable for creating continuous light lines along long counters or behind large TVs and entertainment centers.

Lighting performance is a key differentiator for the Lightstrip Plus within the smart strip segment. The strip supports up to 16 million colors plus a full range of white temperatures, typically from warm 2,000 K style tones up to cooler daylight-style white around 6,500 K, depending on the specific generation. Brightness for the current Hue Lightstrip Plus base kit is commonly listed around 1,600 lumens at full output for the full 2 meter length, which is enough to provide noticeable accent lighting and, in some placements, partial task lighting as well. The LEDs are integrated at close spacing along the strip, helping create a continuous light effect when mounted against a surface, particularly when the light is bounced off walls or cabinets rather than viewed directly.

Like other Philips Hue products, the Lightstrip Plus integrates into a broader smart home system via the Hue Bridge or direct Bluetooth control, depending on the configuration. With the Hue Bridge and app, users can group the lightstrip with other Hue bulbs and fixtures, set schedules, and apply preset scenes that combine different colors and brightness levels. The strip can also respond to automation rules, such as turning on at sunset or activating specific colors when other smart home events occur. For households that prefer voice assistants, Philips Hue markets compatibility with major platforms such as Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit when used with the Hue Bridge. These integrations allow voice control for basic functions like turning the strip on and off, dimming, and selecting scenes.

For many buyers, an important aspect is installation flexibility. The Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus can be bent around gentle corners and adhered to curved surfaces, which helps it follow the edge of desks, shelves, or entertainment units. The adhesive backing is intended for clean, dry surfaces; some users choose to supplement it with additional mounting clips or channels for long-term installations, especially under cabinetry or in areas with heat and humidity. Once installed, the strip is powered via an included power supply that connects to a wall outlet, with a small control unit between the strip and the power adapter. The driver serves as the connection point to the Hue ecosystem and determines the maximum number of extension strips that can be added to the base kit.

Compared with lower-cost generic LED strips that ship with infrared remotes or basic Bluetooth control, the Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus leans into tighter ecosystem integration and software support. Through the Hue app, users can synchronize the strip with predefined scenes inspired by natural light, movies, or gaming setups when used with compatible accessories. Signify also emphasizes ongoing software updates to the Hue platform, which can extend functionality or improve integrations over time for existing installations. For consumers who already use Hue bulbs in ceiling fixtures and lamps, the Lightstrip Plus fills a gap by providing indirect and accent light in places where a traditional bulb form factor does not fit.

From a portfolio perspective, the Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus sits alongside other Hue indoor products such as standard A19 bulbs, recessed downlights, and decorative lamps, but targets more creative and customizable lighting designs. It has been part of the Hue lineup for several product generations, making it one of the ecosystem's long-standing options for ambient and accent lighting. The strip's role is less about primary illumination for an entire room and more about layering light to create atmosphere, highlight furniture, and provide subtle background glow that can be tuned for relaxation, entertainment, or focused work. Consumers comparing alternatives often weigh the higher price of Hue strips against the convenience of deep app integration, automation, and cross-device scene control within the same brand.

For Signify, Philips Hue remains a flagship consumer smart lighting brand that showcases the company's connected lighting capabilities across bulbs, fixtures, and accessories. The Lightstrip Plus contributes to the portfolio by addressing use cases where traditional smart bulbs cannot be used, strengthening ecosystem lock-in among users who invest in multiple Hue products. Shares of Signify N.V. (NL0011821392, ticker LIGHT) last traded on Euronext Amsterdam; there is no primary U.S. listing to quote in U.S. dollar terms.

This article was created with a.i. assistance and editorially reviewed. Product information is provided without warranty; prices and availability may change at any time. Not investment advice, not a buy or sell recommendation. Trading in securities carries risks up to the total loss of capital.