Frontline | Starting at 3999 yuan, Insta360 Releases X6: Panoramic Cameras Begin to Transfer More Creative Work to AI

Text by Zhang Ziyi

Edited by Yuan Silai

 On August 12, Insta360, marking its 10th year of laying out panoramic cameras, launched its new-generation flagship panoramic camera X6, with a starting price of 3999 yuan in Chinese mainland.  

As a product with the meaning of "ten-year masterpiece", the X6 inherits the technological iteration and experience accumulation of Insta360 in panoramic imaging over the past decade. Compared with previous generations that mainly focused on upgrades around image quality, portability and panoramic shooting experience, the X6 not only continues to improve image quality, but also has a more obvious change: Insta360 is handing over more framing, follow-shot and editing work to cameras and AI.

In terms of image quality, the X6 supports up to 8K 50fps panoramic video and 120-megapixel panoramic photos, and is equipped with two 1/1.1-inch square sensors co-customized by Insta360 and Sony. According to the data disclosed by Insta360, compared with the previous generation X5, the effective utilization area of the new sensor is increased by 33%, and the light intake per single pixel is increased by 300%, which mainly improves the imaging performance in complex scenes such as night scenes and backlighting.

Compared with the improvement of parameters, what deserves more attention for the X6 is the change of shooting methods.
 

What deserves more attention for the X6 is the change of shooting methods.

The biggest feature of panoramic cameras in the past is that there is no need to determine the lens direction in advance when shooting, and reframing can be done in post-production, but this also means that users need to spend more time processing materials. The newly added Gimbal Mode 2.0 of the X6 can directly output 4K flat videos while retaining 8K panoramic materials; the automatic follow-shot function starts to support animals and objects in addition to people. After being paired with the head tracking accessory, the camera can also automatically change the shooting direction according to the user's line of sight.

Apart from hardware iteration, another clear main upgrade line of the X6 is to strengthen AI's takeover of post-shooting processes, solve the problem of "what to do after shooting" for users, and further promote panoramic imaging from recording to automatic creation and spatial reconstruction.

The X6 is equipped with PanoMind, a self-developed panoramic AI model of Insta360, which can automatically identify wonderful clips in the footage and complete editing; another function "Moment Pro" allows users to tell the system what kind of video they want to make through natural language, and the AI will select materials and generate the finished video.

In addition, the X6 also adds 3D spatial reconstruction. Users can convert the shot materials into freely browsable 3D scenes, so that the panoramic camera can not only record videos, but also have the ability to reconstruct 3D time and space, allowing users to revisit life moments from any angle

Apart from the product level, Insta360's business is also in a stage of continuous expansion. The annual report shows that the revenue in 2025 increased by 74.76% year-on-year, and the revenue in the first quarter of 2026 continued to increase by 83.11% year-on-year.

Rendering

In the past two years, Insta360 has no longer expanded its product line only around panoramic cameras. In addition to the X series, GO series and action cameras, the company has successively invested in new projects such as panoramic drones, gimbal cameras, wireless microphones and customized chips. In 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, the company's investment in these strategic projects reached 762 million yuan and 262 million yuan respectively.

Among them, the layout of drones and gimbals is not just aimed at adding new product categories. In its annual report, Insta360 summarized its longer-term direction as "photography robot": on the one hand, it accumulates optics, sensors and imaging algorithms through different camera products, on the other hand, it increases the movement ability of equipment in space through drones and gimbals, and then superimposes automatic editing and AI understanding capabilities.

It can be seen that the X6 is still one of the important products for Insta360 to verify new technologies.

From the continuous improvement of resolution in previous generations to the addition of automatic follow-shot, AI editing and spatial reconstruction in this generation, the competition of panoramic cameras is shifting from "shooting clearer" to "how to allow users to participate less in shooting and post-production while obtaining more complete content".

For Insta360, which already occupies a high market share, continuing to improve image quality is still important, but how to lower the creation threshold and extend the accumulated panoramic imaging, AI and spatial perception capabilities to more hardware forms will also become a new key focus in the future.