Smartthings compatible wall light switches vs smart bulbs

Some of it is just market forces: originally smart bulbs cost $60, but competition has brought the pricing down over the last 15 months or so.

Some of it is true costs: it is much more complicated to engineer something that gets actually wired into the mains rather than just screwing in like a bulb. There’s additional safety equipment required for fire protection, in part because you have to allow for the possibility of someone doing it wrong. :wink:And the actuator part of the switch also requires a bit more equipment and complexity. But not a whole lot more.

I do expect the cost of smart switches to drop over the next two years, but no guarantees and no idea how much. But if I had to guess I would guess that by the end of 2019 smart light switches will be in the $19-$22 range. But we will just have to wait-and-see.

By the way, the issue of having a wall switch that can work with a smart bulb without cutting the current to it can be solved in several different ways. :sunglasses: However, they all require adding additional devices, which then increases costs and makes a Bulbs project cost much more like a Switch project. But a lot of community members, including myself, do use one of these methods. See the following FAQ (this is a clickable link)

But for now, I think we are still paying early adopter prices for the switches, even though we are actually many years into home automation. SmartSwitches cost $35 because the people buying them are willing to pay $35. As the numbers of those interested in the devices but unwilling to pay those prices increase, I do expect prices to drop.

3 Likes