Lighting manufacturer Philips has just announced a refresh of its popular 12.5W LED bulb. The 60W-equivalent lamp is one of the most popular A19 LED offerings on the market and, at prices ranging from $20-25, has become a benchmark for consumer-focused LED lighting. Now, the EnduraLED/AmbientLED (same product, different branding) are being replaced with the A19 LED, which ships with improved specs and without a visible remote phosphor.

The A19 LED, pictured above, uses a design that is similar to that of Philips’ Hue bulbs, which means the cooling fins have been smoothed over, and the yellow remote phosphor has been hidden. The bulbs are still designed to dissipate heat, but rather than use metal fins covering the lower half Philips has utilized a design similar to its AirFlux-equipped models. There is no statement as to what AirFlux is exactly, but requirements seem to largely aesthetic, based mainly on the use of a smooth outer case. For the time being AirFlux branding will be restricted to directional models (like PAR and BR lamps), while Philips A-shaped bulbs will used lessons learned from those designs.

The new bulb consumes 11W while operating and produces 830 lumens, making for 75 lumens-per-watt (lpw). The 12.5W model is rated at 800 lumens, putting it at 64 lpw. If you haven’t done the math yet, that means a bulb that is 17% more efficient than the previous generation and one that uses 12% less power.

The A19 LED will be sold in two color temperatures — soft white (2700K) and daylight (5000K). Of the two, only the soft white model will be Energy Star approved at the time the bulbs go on sale, because the guidelines only range from 2700K up to 4000K at this point. The guidelines are expected to be updated in 2013 to include higher Kelvin counts. Both bulbs have a CRI of 80+, which is in keeping with Energy Start requirements.

While Philips isn’t revealing much about changes made inside the bulb, it was made clear on a call with the company that new technology was used to replace the remote phosphor in just one of the models. This means the change between the 12.5W and 11W models are more than aesthetic and there are actually differences between the 2700K and 5000K bulbs. One change that was confirmed was a “next generation” dimming platform in the new model. It will dim down to 2%, which is much better then the 12.5W’s 10%, and has better dimmer compatibility than previous models.

Regarding high lumen levels, Philips noted that the company will continue production of its current 75W- and 100W-equivalent LED bulbs. Presumably these models will move to the new styling eventually, but Todd Manegold, a Philips product marketing representative, noted that no changes would be made until they can be done without sacrificing performance.

The 5000K A19 LED bulb will go on sale in two Manhattan Home Depot stores this week. The 2700K model will go on sale through HomeDepot.com at the start of 2013. Both will have a retail price of $24.97.

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