Phillips hue does require the internet for setup.

You can join Phillips hue units to your own zigbee network without Internet or even the Phillips hue app.

Zigbee2mqtt and a cheap zigbee dongle is all you need really. You could add home assistant for a better interface but there is no need to involve Phillips or the Internet. One of the huge advantages of zigbee imo.

Thank you, that's cool to know. But if it applies to all zigbee devices, there is little point to choose phillips devices specifically, no?

With reviews being useless lately, many people have gone back to trusting brand names. Though the only reason I brought them up was to point out availability.

One other really cool thing is they have a wireless switch that is powered by the act of pushing the button.