Philips has just launched a stunning new range of ceiling lights that mimic the look of a skylight and I think they look incredible, but the lack of smart features may not make up for their high price.

Philips launches a ceiling lamp that imitates the look of a real skylight
Automatically adjusts daylight temperature as the day progresses.
Skylight looks very realistic, but lacks smart home support

Philips is one of our favorite home lighting brands and they are launching a new ceiling light that mimics daylight and creates the effect of a skylight, and it looks spectacular.

Philips Skylight is designed to replicate natural lighting and outdoor environments indoors, using a combination of advanced LED technologies and Philips NatureConnect. Signify, the maker of Philips, says the skylight is “inspired by the natural brightness, depth and rhythm of sunlight.”

It’s a great option for windowless rooms if your roof design doesn’t allow for a skylight or if you want to save yourself the hassle and expense of installing one.

Latest videos of

Until now, Signify limited the Philips Skylight to professional settings (offices, medical settings, etc.), but now the ceiling light will be available to everyone when it launches later this month in most regions (Signify says the Skylight will be available in the US in September).

Philips Skylight comes in four models: Philips Skylight Medium, Philips Skylight Large, Philips Skylight VitaUp Medium and Philips Skylight VitaUp Large, with prices starting at €499.99 (around $580).

Philips Skylight mounted on the ceiling of a bathroom alongside a close-up of the accompanying remote control

(Image credit: Signify/Philips)

Each variant comes with a slim ceiling profile for mounting, a remote control, five preset lighting scenes, and Philips’ Day Rhythm tool that automatically adjusts color temperature and brightness throughout the day. All models have an IP44 rating, meaning the Philips Skylight can be installed in bathrooms and other wet environments.

VitaUp models come with an integrated UV-B module designed to support the body’s natural vitamin D production indoors. This also includes a number of safety measures, including automatic shutdown that occurs after eight hours.

In the images shared by Philips, the Skylight’s outdoor light imitation looks surprisingly convincing and its well-being benefits are evident. More and more people are spending more time indoors and out of natural light, so devices like this are becoming more sought after.

However, despite its intelligence, the Philips Skylight is not a Hue product. Philips makes some of the best smart lights out there, but its new ceiling light doesn’t offer smart connectivity. This means it doesn’t connect to Wi-Fi or work with Matter over Thread, so you can’t integrate it into your existing smart home setup and you’ll have to use the included remote to control it manually.

Given how impressive the Philips Skylight looks and its price, it’s a shame. Let’s hope Philips adds smart home connectivity to a future version.