In late December, DJI may no longer be allowed to import new products into the US — it seems someone woke up and smelled a business opportunity in that! Products DJI decided not to bring to the US are suddenly on Amazon’s shelves, including the Mavic 4 Pro and Mini 5 Pro.
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The company temporarily paused flights of its Prime Air delivery drones on Wednesday morning following two back-to-back crashes involving a crane. But airborne deliveries in the West Valley Phoenix Metro Area have resumed and Amazon is “confident that there wasn’t an issue with the drones or the technology that supports them.”
”DJI-US.com” got its domain name suspended after I asked DJI about it. Spokesperson Daisy Kong tells me:
This website is not an official or authorized DJI sales channel. We recommend that our customers check against the “where to buy” section at DJI.com or visit store.dji.com for any purchases to avoid counterfeit items.
Unfortunately, DJI’s own US website doesn’t sell any drones.
There’s lots we don’t know about Antigravity, the first drone from Insta360. But after my first flights, I think it could change what we expect out of drones. Want a look at some (prototype! compressed!) 360-degree footage on YouTube? I uploaded this interactive sample! Set resolution to 4K first.
Did you know it’s generally illegal to fly drones farther than you can see with your naked eye? That may be about to change — but the 731-page proposed rule doesn’t seem like blanket deregulation. Looks like it’ll cut red tape for drone delivery and automated inspection, but humans will still need to be in charge, it’ll require permits, and the more populated an area you want to fly over, the stricter the requirements.
The HoverAir X1 is one of the best drones for people who don’t like drones, we found last year: an affordable, portable, and durable self-flying selfie camera. Now, the company’s teasing a new model that floats on water (can it land and take off, though?) with a new compact controller.
Hopefully it’ll be simpler and cheaper than the company’s too-ambitious X1 Pro and ProMax drones, whose modular controllers have never worked right for me.
DJI is unusually weak right now, and Insta360 is seizing the opportunity for its first drone: “immersive, creator-ready, and easy for anyone to fly,” with spherical filming so you can fly first then frame shots after. (The company tried 360-degree drone attachments before, but never a full aircraft.)
Will Antigravity even exist in the US, though? The announce doesn’t say. Insta360 is Chinese, and Trump has made it clear that US drones should “dominate.”
Mark Walter is buying majority ownership of the Lakers at a $10 billion valuation, reports ESPN. Walter runs TWG Global, which owns chunks of other sports teams, and also owns a fun grab-bag of other companies, including Shield AI and Slate Auto. LeBron-themed pickup truck when?
It sounds ridiculous when I say it out loud: A Chinese company wants to be audited by the US government, and it’s asking you for help!
But it’s true: Every new DJI product will be banned from import as soon as December, unless a gov agency positively confirms the dronemaker doesn’t pose a national security threat. “More than six months have passed, and that process still hasn’t begun as far as we can tell,” writes DJI.
Ek’s investment company Prima Materia dumped its first €100 million in Helsing, the German defense tech group with roots in AI software, back in 2021. Now it’s leading a €600 million round to capitalize on the shift to drone warfare. Per the Financial Times:
“The world is being tested in more ways than ever before. That has sped up the timeline” for Helsing’s financing, Ek said, pointing in particular to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, where drones and other AI-powered systems have been deployed at scale for the first time. “There’s an enormous realisation that it’s really now AI, mass and autonomy that is driving the new battlefield.”
Almost every single thing in Friday’s executive order is about uplifting the drone industry and cutting through red tape (at the potential expense of safety), not about cracking down on the China-based leading manufacturer of drones. But as I noted last week, Trump doesn’t need to lift a finger. The ban on future DJI products happens automatically unless he steps in.
[whitehouse.gov]
The Washington Post is reporting he’s expected to sign executive orders on drones next week, suggesting they could “end Chinese drone sales in the US.”
That might be true, but the main action WaPo describes is “the executive order could direct the U.S. intelligence community to accelerate reviews of whether Chinese drone makers DJI and Autel are national security risks” — which is exactly what DJI would like the US to do. DJI products will be automatically banned unless an agency finishes that review. If there’s a review, there’s a chance.
DJI said it wouldn’t, but it weirdly did anyhow. Now, the company won’t answer our questions about the launch at all. How did Adorama obtain a shipment of drones? Will DJI honor the preorders at B&H? Does any other retailer have a shipment? Will DJI honor its warranty on those sales?
“We are unable to provide any additional information at this time,” DJI spokesperson Daisy Kong tells The Verge. Adorama’s pages now say “temporarily unavailable”; B&H has “suspended backorders” for now.
The company hasn’t revealed what model it’s announcing on May 13th, 2025, but a teaser video shared to its X account shows a drone with a triple camera array similar to what the DJI Mavic 3 Pro uses. Next week could see the debut of the DJI Mavic 4 Pro, as DroneDJ speculates, with an upgraded stabilized camera system that can roll to facilitate video capture in portrait mode like the DJI Mini 4 Pro.
“Skydio has produced a total of 45,000 drones,” reports Bloomberg Businessweek, as part of a good profile of the self-flying dronemaker. Skydio spokesperson Kiersten Bagley tells me it’s more than 45,000, but still under 50K.
Am I surprised that a company which pivoted from consumer and still assembles products in pricy Silicon Valley isn’t making more? No — but it shows that Skydio’s still small. The global drone market was already measured in millions back in 2017; DJI has sold over 300,000 agricultural drones alone.
[bloomberg.com]
Wired reports that Amazon has reduced the number of drone flights under its Prime Air delivery service in College Station, Texas, and is looking to relocate its hub within the city following noise complaints from nearby residents.
Correction, March 3rd: This post originally included a video that said Amazon’s drones exceed 71db of noise. The video was a “simulation” created by a resident, measuring a chainsaw. Amazon spokesperson Sam Stephenson did not provide dB readings for the drones in question, but pointed to CNBC’s reporting of a separate city test of the drone that found it within the 47-61 dB range. Since then, Amazon introduced the MK30, which reduced the perceived volume by half, the company says.
