Philips has confirmed that a firmware update released in June bricked a small number of its Hue Bridge Pro smart lighting hubs, and it is offering free replacements to all affected owners regardless of warranty status. The gesture matters because the Bridge Pro is a relatively pricey central hub for many users' smart home setups, and the failure left affected devices completely non-functional.

According to the report, first covered by Ars Technica, fewer than 100 devices were affected, and only under a "very specific software update scenario": owners with automatic updates disabled who stayed on an older version for an extended period, then manually installed the 2071353020 update after it had been stored on the device for more than 10 days. Affected users can contact Philips support for a replacement, though they will have to reconfigure the new hub from scratch — potentially lengthy given the Bridge Pro supports up to 150 lights and 50 accessories, plus shortcuts and schedules. Philips said it is already rolling out a further update designed to prevent other devices from encountering the same fault.