Dyson vs Philips air purifiers: which to buy in Australia

Dyson and Philips are the two brands most people end up choosing between, and they sell very different things. Philips sells purifiers and publishes the numbers that let you compare them. Dyson sells sealed machines, often with a fan built in, and publishes fewer numbers. Prices below are from Appliances Online, JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys and Dyson on 18 October 2026; for the models also on Amazon Australia, check the current price on Amazon. We compared maker specifications and retailer listings; we have not tested these purifiers side by side.

The short version

Published numbers: Philips states them, Dyson mostly does not

Philips gives a CADR for each model and says how it was tested: to the Chinese standard GB/T 18801-2022 by a third-party lab, and for the 3200 it names the standard its room size is calculated to (NRCC-54013). That lets you work out air changes per hour for your room, which is the honest way to size any purifier (our main air purifier guide shows the sum).

Dyson’s page for the HushJet Compact rates it for rooms “up to 100m²” and footnotes that figure: “Based on 1 ACH”, one air change an hour. It gives no CADR. The TP07’s Appliances Online listing quotes a maximum airflow of 290 m³/h, which is how much air the fan moves, not how much filtered air it delivers. The Big+Quiet listings we read gave neither. None of this means Dyson’s machines filter poorly; Dyson says its purifiers are fully sealed so air cannot bypass the filter, which is a real design point. It does mean you cannot put a Dyson and a Philips side by side on clean-air output.

Price for price

Around $400 to $550. The Philips 2200 ($357 at Appliances Online, $449 at JB Hi-Fi) and Philips 3200 ($399 at JB Hi-Fi and The Good Guys) against the Dyson HushJet Compact ($549 at Dyson, JB Hi-Fi and The Good Guys; $612 at Appliances Online). The Philips 3200’s 520 m³/h for $150 less is the stronger buy for clean air. The HushJet’s case is its five-year filter and compact, quiet design (24 dB in Sleep mode).

Around $650. The Dyson TP07 ($649 at Appliances Online and The Good Guys) is a 105 cm tower fan with a sealed HEPA H13 filter and 350-degree oscillation. The Philips 4200 ($518 at Appliances Online, $649 at JB Hi-Fi) is a pure purifier with a 600 m³/h CADR and PM2.5, gas, allergen, temperature and humidity sensors. If you would otherwise buy a pedestal fan for summer, the TP07 replaces two appliances; if not, the Philips moves more clean air. Dyson’s newer Purifier Cool PC1 shows why it pays to shop around: it was $599 at JB Hi-Fi and $878 at Appliances Online on the same day.

Over $1,000. The Dyson Big+Quiet BP03 is $1,499 at Appliances Online, built to throw air across big rooms at 56 dB on full speed. Philips has nothing at that price in this range; two Philips 4200s cost less and add up to 1,200 m³/h of published CADR.

Running costs

Philips’ smaller filters cost more over time than the headline price suggests: $159 a year for the 3200 pair and $179 for the 4200 pair at JB Hi-Fi, or $109 every three years for the 2200. Philips’ own filter pages carry owner complaints about FY3200 and FY0910 filters being out of stock, so a spare is worth buying. Dyson’s HushJet Compact filter is rated for five years, tested to a 50 percent drop in CADR at 12 hours a day. On power, Philips gives 36 W for the 3200 and 54 W for the 4200 at full speed, and its Amazon listing gives 28 W for the 2200; the Dyson listings we read did not give power figures.

Where to buy

Both brands sell through Appliances Online, JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys and Amazon Australia, where the Philips purifiers, the HushJet Compact and the Big+Quiet were all sold by Amazon AU itself on the day we checked. Dyson also sells direct and advertises 45-day returns with a money-back guarantee. Appliances Online offers a full refund on unopened items within 30 days of delivery. Faulty products are covered under the Australian Consumer Law wherever you buy.

Which to buy

• Clean air per dollar: Philips 3200, or the 2200 for a bedroom.
• A fan in summer and a purifier all year: Dyson TP07. It cools you with moving air; it does not lower the room temperature. For that, see the portable air conditioner guide.
• Least maintenance in a small room: Dyson HushJet Compact, or the Shark NeverChange5 if you want a cheaper five-year filter (see the main guide).
• Smoke season: whichever gives your sealed room about five air changes an hour on high; the bushfire smoke guide sizes it.

The one trap

Comparing Dyson’s airflow with Philips’ CADR. The TP07’s 290 m³/h is how much air the fan moves; Philips’ 420 m³/h for the 2200 is how much filtered air it delivers in a standard test. They are different measurements, and the second is the one that predicts how fast a room clears. Where a brand gives only a room size, check the footnote for the air-change basis, as Dyson’s does.