Whoops: UK Retailer Reveals New DJI Mavic 2 Before Official Release

So now we know. A matter of weeks after DJI indefinitely postponed the launch event for a new drone release, UK retailer Argos has gone ahead and printed the new products in its biannual catalog.

It’s an easy mistake to make, particularly when you sell thousands of products and a manufacturer has a last-minute change of heart about its release date.

Although the catalog leak does contain names and details of DJI’s new drones, we can’t know for sure that these will be in line with the end result when they do actually launch. Presumably, the official launch was delayed for a reason. We don’t know whether that reason is technical in nature – something that might mean the official products are slightly different to what’s featured in the Argos catalog.

Anyway, what does the leak tell us about DJI’s new drones?

DJI’s New Drones: The Mavic 2 Pro and the Mavic 2 Zoom

So what do we know about DJI’s new drones from the Argos leak? It looks as though the Chinese manufacturer is set to launch two new drones in the Mavic product line, the Mavic 2 Pro and the Mavic 2 Zoom.

The page from the Argos catalog suggests that the new Mavic 2 Pro will come with a one-inch Hasselblad CMOS sensor.

The Mavic 2 Zoom comes with – as the name suggests – a zoom function, with a 2X optical zoom (24mm to 48mm). This is new for DJI, and also features on the latest drone from Parrot, the ANAFI.

Reading the small print below we can see that both drones will be able to hit speeds of 45 mph and stay in the air for 31 minutes at a time. The 8km (about 5 miles) range is a small step up from the previous Mavic Pro.

Most significant is the new drones’ “omnidirectional obstacle avoidance.” The current Mavic Pro and Mavic Pro Platinum only have downward and forward facing obstacle detection. A drone that can avoid collisions in all directions would be a first of its kind at this level of the market.

There’s no pricing information in the Argos catalog, but we’d be surprised if these new Mavic Pros came in at under $1,000. It will be interesting to see what differentiates the two drones from each other in more detail.

What has DJI had to say about the leak?

“This preprinted catalogue was scheduled before we postponed our ‘See the Bigger Picture’ event to ensure we can deliver high-quality, cutting-edge technology to our customers according to our standard of innovation,” the company wrote. “This early look just hints at the many exciting features and capabilities DJI will announce at the proper time.  We look forward to giving our fans an incredible drone experience as soon as we can.”

Will There Be a Third New DJI Mavic?

In a separate leak, an image has popped up on the German DJI store appearing to show an ‘Enterprise Edition’ Mavic 2.  It doesn’t look so different from the new drones revealed by Argos, but it seems to have been designed to handle heavier payloads and swap out different attachments for commercial flights.

We’ll have to wait and see, but if all of this comes to fruition there are some big product launches on the way from DJI.