Started in the 1980s as the new Philips sub-label for classical music.
When Universal Music acquired PolyGram at the beginning of 1998, the Philips Classics brand ceased to appear on new recordings. As part of the acquisition agreement, Universal could use the Philips name for ten years, until the end of 2007. Philips Classics became an in-name only imprint of Decca Records because of. Many classical titles were and continued to be reissued on the Eloquence and Eloquence (Australia) label.
From the beginning of 2008, active Philips Classics catalogue releases were reissued only using the Decca brand. At that time, Philips Classics' web presence was subsumed into Decca's website.
There is Philips Digital Classics too, for DDD releases. [Some consider it a label on its own, others a series.]