Amazon’s Ring division is making its first smart light bulb

Dec. 10, 2019 05:03AM EST

Ring, the smart home company owned by Amazon and best known for its video doorbells, is working on its first smart light bulb.

The company has previously sold outdoor security light fittings with motion sensors, but is yet to sell individual bulbs for consumers to fit to lighting fixtures they already own.

Read More:

But it looks like that will soon change, according to a newly discovered FCC filing. First spotted and shared on Twitter by Dave Zatz, the bulb is a PAR38 with a screw fitting and designed to fit into outdoor flood lights.

Companies are required to file details of upcoming products to the Federal Communications Commission if they include certain wireless technologies. This is usually a good indication that the product is in the final stages of development and will likely go on sale soon.

Drawings included in the FCC filing clearly show the Ring logo on the side of the bulb, and the bulb also has Bluetooth. The filing itself, which is dated December 9, refers to a product called the Ring Smart Lightbulb. It also links to an Amazon.com page, but for now the link brings up an error.

FCC filing includes drawings of the unreleased bulbsFCC / Amazon

It is highly likely that the bulb will wirelessly connect to the Ring Smart Lighting Bridge, which costs $50 and links together Ring doorbells with the company's smart flood lights. That way, the floodlight can be set to switch on when motion is detected, or when the doorbell is pressed; we expect the new bulbs to work the same way.

With Amazon putting the new smart light under its Ring brand, we don't think the retail giant is directly competing with other smart light companies like Philips Hue and Lifx just yet. But, if this bulb is a success, we wouldn't be surprised to see Amazon expand on its lighting range, bringing it indoors to compete with the rest of the market.

While there is already a range of outdoor Hue lights available, these are designed to be decorative instead of part of a security system. For now, Amazon and Hue are operating closely, but not yet competing directly against each other.