Tag: DJI

Categories
News

DJI reveals details of new compact folding drone designed for beginners

A leak has just revealed that a tiny new DJI Flip is coming – and it could potentially be a DJI Mini series successor.The new DJI Flip, which has propeller guards similar to the DJI Neo, will have a folding design that resembles the HoverAir X1, according to a video shared by reliable leaker Jasper Ellens on X.

DJI‘s current folding drones, including the Mini 4 Pro and Mini 3, feature collapsing propellers and arms that fold towards the sides of each drone’s body. The guarded propellers on the DJI Flip appear to instead fold downwards in the leaked animation, resulting in all four of them being neatly stacked to help make the drone smaller and easier to transport when not being flown.

The addition of propeller guards will not only make the DJI Flip safer for novices to fly, but its larger propellers and their ducted design could also make the new drone quieter, according to DroneXL. Other features spotted in the leaked image and animation include a camera on a three-axis gimbal, landing leg supports under the front propellers, support for DJI’s O4 video transmission system, and an “advanced LiDAR array matching the DJI Air 3S’s sensor capabilities,” says DroneXL.

The Flip will ship with a 3,110mAh battery — larger than the DJI Neo’s 1,435mAh that allows the smaller drone to fly for up to 18 minutes. That’s also larger than the 2,590mAh that ships with the DJI Mini 4 Pro and the DJI Mini 3’s 2,453mAh battery, which gave both of those drones flight times of 34 to 38 minutes.

Overall, this makes the DJI Flip a curious little drone, and it isn’t clear yet where it might sit between the new DJI Neo and existing DJI Mini series. As always with DJI, expect new leaks to reveal more soon…

What’s still unknown are pricing details or when the DJI Flip will launch, although DroneXL suspects it could be announced as early as January 2025. Jasper Ellens also believes the Flip will be DJI’s replacement for the Mini 5 or Mini 5 Pro that was expected to debut sometime in late 2024 or early 2025.

Categories
News

US Customs Is Holding Up DJI Drone Imports

Getting your hand son the brand-new DJI Air 3S might be trickier than anticipated as the company is having issues importing its latest drone to the US. For the time being, it might only be possible to purchase the drone from DJI.com directly, not through any third-party stores.

This isn’t anything to do with the ban bill which passed in the US House of Representatives earlier this year. Instead, DJI claims it’s because the Department of Homeland Security incorrectly believes the drones were produced in forced labor camps and is blocking the drones using the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.

In a letter it sent to distributors – which has been shared on social media – DJI refutes these accusations stating “DJI strongly affirms that no forced labor is involved at any stage of our manufacturing process.

“Our company does not and has never operated manufacturing facilities in the Xinjiang province of China, nor do we obtain any materials from that region. All of our manufacturing is based in Shenzhen, where our company is headquartered, or Malaysia.”

Following up with a post on its official blog DJI says it has all of the evidence it needs to clean up this “misunderstanding” and prove it doesn’t make its drones in the Xinjiang region of China.

Until the issue is resolved however it’ll be harder for US businesses to get their hands on DJI’s enterprise and agricultural drones, as well as regular folks from snagging the DJI Air 3S – at least from retailers other than DJI itself.

The first ban of many?

Even if this existing issue is resolved, DJI’s future in the US will remain uncertain.

The wider US import ban is still looming, and while it has yet to pass through the Senate it feels like it may be a matter of when, and not if, unless there’s a major attitude shift in the US government.

Though the ban looks set to only affect imports as it is currently written, so if a DJI drone catches your eye, you should still consider grabbing it – as already-approved models won’t be permanently grounded even if a ban does pass.

So take this DJI Air 3S issue as a taste of what’s unfortunately likely to come in the coming months and years from the world’s best drone manufacturer.