What Can We Learn From the Latest DJI Release Rumors?

Every time there’s a lull in consumer drone news, you can bet that a new DJI rumor will begin to circulate.

A matter of days after the launch of the Osmo Mobile 3, images and specifications of what is supposedly a new miniature drone from the Chinese manufacturer have been widely published.

Separating fact from fiction is difficult for would-be buyers and those who follow the consumer market.

The speculation surrounding a new release from DJI stemmed from the image below, posted earlier this month by a technology publication based in Beijing.

There have also been specification sheets published online, showing a drone that weighs 245g – a significant weight that falls under the FAA’s registration threshold – the capability to shoot 4K video, a flight time of over 15 minutes and a range of several miles.

These specs haven’t been verified and we can’t say with any certainty that they will turn out to be correct. But, it will be interesting to see how the FAA (and other regulatory bodies for that matter) respond to such a drone when its weight is lower than they thought possible for an aircraft with that kind of capability.

There are a couple of things we know for sure from this repetitive cycle of leaks, rumors and hype.

The first is that these rumors benefit someone, but it probably isn’t DJI or drone retailers. Hype is a necessary part of marketing a new release, but not when it slows down sales on current models as customers choose to wait for the next big thing.

So who does benefit? Well, probably just advertisers, publishers and whoever else can monetize the search for leaks and pre-release product information.

Will DJI Release a New Mini Drone?

So here are some facts to go alongside the latest DJI rumors and speculation.

Both the Spark and the Mavic Air Fly More Combo are currently ‘Out of Stock’ on the manufacturer’s website. This is a traditional precursor to a new release. So yes: it does look like something is coming.

The Spark section on the DJI website appears to have been changed to ‘Spark Series’, and the Spark has been removed from the header slideshow.

It’s also true that the DJI Spark is due an upgrade. In fact, some of the ‘leaks’ were previously posted as representing details of the Spark 2, not the ‘Mavic Mini’ they have since claimed to be uncovering.

The original Spark was launched in May 2017. Although the Mavic Air came shortly after, over two years without a direct iteration is pretty much unheard of at DJI.

Our advice? We can try to predict what DJI is going to do, but more often than not these leaks turn out to be partially wrong or totally wrong. So sit back, wait and see, and try not to base purchasing decisions on conjecture.