The lamps you're not allowed to have. Exploring the Dubai lamps

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 19:33:55 +0000

These fascinating lamps are a result of a collaboration between Philips Lighting and Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum - the ruler of Dubai.
They are designed to be the most efficient available, matching high lumen output with very long life. Once you see the construction and circuitry you'll realise this isn't just marketing spin.

In return for the development Philips gained exclusive rights to manufacture the lamps for a fixed duration, extending from their announcement in 2016. Philips expect to have supplied 10 million of the lamps by the end of 2021.

There is a requirement for new installations to use the new lamp, which has upset some designers and architects, as they are only available in 8 forms. 3W and 2W globes, a 1W candle globe and a 3W MR16 12V downlight version. All four available in either cool daylight or warm white to make up the eight options. This restricts the style of the lamp shape and excludes warmer whites unless coloured by a shade. They're also not dimmable, which contributes greatly to their reliability, but does require a more open minded approach to lighting design.
The range also excludes the GU10 format, which isn't a bad thing as they're probably one of the least reliable lamps due to the use of electronics in a confined space with hot LEDs.

These lamps are currently only available in Dubai. The likelihood of them appearing elsewhere is limited by the fact that they are designed to last a long time, which isn't profitable for the manufacturers. Maybe that'll change over time.

Although Philips have initial exclusivity of supply, it'll be interesting to see what happens when that period of time comes to an end. Will the other manufacturers make the same amount of effort as Philips did?

Slight correction. The two MOSFET gate resistors are actually 4.7Mohm and not 470K, which makes sense for gate voltage protection.

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