DJI-Staubsaugerroboter, es ist schon spät, wenn Sie nicht bald investieren.
The excitement and involution in the robotic vacuum cleaner market have long been old news.
Now, DJI has become a new variable. In the eyes of the outside world, this brand, which stands out in the drone field, has strong technical strength and a good brand reputation. Moreover, DJI's previous technical accumulations in motors, obstacle avoidance algorithms, and path planning are also applicable to the scenario of robotic vacuum cleaners.
However, as a mass consumer product, the robotic vacuum cleaner market is an extremely involuted field. The top five players in the market account for more than 90% of the share, and these manufacturers are now facing the embarrassing situation of increasing revenue but not profit. Can DJI's long - awaited robotic vacuum cleaner break through the gradually solidified market pattern?
DJI's robotic vacuum cleaner: a no - show for too long
DJI's robotic vacuum cleaner has once again disappointed the market.
It was originally thought that this year's 618 would be the launch date of DJI's robotic vacuum cleaner, ROMO. Before that, photos of the product's appearance and packaging box had circulated on social networks, and JD.com even once released a pre - sale poster for DJI's robotic vacuum cleaner. However, this information was later withdrawn, and the release date of DJI's robotic vacuum cleaner was postponed again.
According to an insider, DJI's robotic vacuum cleaners have been distributed to channels, and "it's definitely going to be launched", but for some reason, the specific launch date has been continuously postponed.
In May this year, some media reported that DJI's robotic vacuum cleaner had entered the mass - production stage and was expected to be officially launched in June. The China Quality Certification Center issued a 3C certification for DJI's robotic vacuum cleaner, and the product name is "All - in - one mopping and sweeping robot". DJI's official response was ambiguous, only saying "Stay tuned".
Currently, the official Weibo account of DJI ROMO has been launched and was verified on June 21st, but no information has been posted yet.
Based on the existing market information, DJI's first robotic vacuum cleaner uses vision - based navigation and positioning, is equipped with a space mapping function, includes an all - in - one base station with a clean water tank, a sewage tank, and a dust collection function, and a crawler - type mop, and has functions such as pet detection and personalized room control.
The price of this product is reported to be around 4,000 yuan, which is in line with DJI's consistent approach of targeting the mid - to - high - end market. In addition, like other brands, DJI's robotic vacuum cleaner is initially manufactured by a third - party OEM. The OEM factory is Guangdong Eno Communication, a subsidiary of Furi Electronics.
One of the important reasons why the outside world pays such high attention to DJI's entry into the robotic vacuum cleaner market is that DJI's existing drones and action cameras have a high market share and a good brand image. And the core technologies such as path planning, obstacle avoidance algorithms, and motor control in drones can be reused in robotic vacuum cleaners, so DJI's entry into the robotic vacuum cleaner market seems logical.
Some netizens joked that they hope DJI will launch a flying robotic vacuum cleaner that can fly directly from the first floor to the second floor after cleaning the first floor.
In addition to its technical accumulations, DJI has also established a global sales network, and DJI has always had strong control over its stores. These advantages in the sales network are not available to many new brands.
Moreover, DJI's brand image in drones and action cameras in recent years has established a technology - oriented label in the minds of many consumers, and user stickiness is very strong. These are all advantages for DJI to enter the robotic vacuum cleaner market.
However, many industry insiders believe that now may not be a good time for DJI to enter the market, which will test the behind - the - scenes operation, especially in terms of pricing. "At least compared with the leading products in the same category, DJI's price should be on par or even lower."
Users who have experienced the product have feedback that DJI's robotic vacuum cleaner is not very different from other products on the market. There is no innovation in hardware, and some functions and configurations are even a bit outdated.
Moreover, the market rules for robotic vacuum cleaners are different from those for drones. DJI's previous hit products, whether drones or action cameras, belong to relatively niche markets. As long as the products are well - made, they can gain the favor of professionals without large - scale marketing promotion.
However, robotic vacuum cleaners are mass consumer products. Building product awareness requires a lot of marketing investment and market exposure. Hiring celebrity endorsements and having influencers promote products are common practices. DJI has always emphasized its product and technical strength in marketing and has no habit of hiring celebrity endorsements.
"Even with DJI's brand influence, it will be difficult to build awareness for its robotic vacuum cleaners without heavy investment in marketing," said Liu Hongtao, an analyst at Aowei Cloud Network.
DJI's foray into robotic vacuum cleaners can be traced back to 2020 when it launched an internal project codenamed "Ground Space Intelligent Explorer", aiming to apply its drone's spatial perception technology to the home scenario. In December 2023, DJI added "R & D of intelligent robots" to its business scope. On May 28, 2025, DJI's "ROMO" trademark was registered, covering multiple categories such as robotic vacuum cleaners and vacuum cleaners.
It is not difficult to find that it took five years from the project's initiation to the final product launch. Some industry insiders believe that the reason why DJI's robotic vacuum cleaner has not been officially launched after four or five years may be related to the product requirements of DJI's founder, Wang Tao. It is reported that Wang Tao has overturned the design plans for the robotic vacuum cleaner several times. Wang Tao once admitted in an interview, "I'm a perfectionist, so I often have conflicts when communicating with others."
Is the robotic vacuum cleaner still a good business?
The robotic vacuum cleaner has been a booming home appliance category in the past few years. It is known as one of the three must - haves for middle - class lazy people, attracting a large amount of capital and players. There are not only the well - known "Four Little Dragons" in the robotic vacuum cleaner market (Ecovacs, Roborock, Yunjing, and Dreame), but also traditional home appliance enterprises such as Midea and Haier have launched corresponding products, and iFlytek and Ezviz are also entering this market.
Fierce market competition has been particularly evident in recent years, with market players scrambling for market share. On the one hand, new products are being launched at an increasingly rapid pace. For example, Yunjing, which aims to go public, has been particularly aggressive in its product layout. In 2024, Yunjing changed its previous strategy of relying on a single product line and launched more than 10 new products throughout the year, covering a price range from 1,000 yuan to over 5,000 yuan. Roborock also launched at least 8 new products in the first three quarters of 2024. As the number of new products increases, the price war has become more intense.
On the other hand, companies are sacrificing profits to gain market share by lowering prices. In 2024, the average price of Roborock's robotic vacuum cleaners decreased by 12%, resulting in a 6.74 - percentage - point decrease in the gross profit margin in the overseas market.
Moreover, the market concentration of robotic vacuum cleaners is very high. In 2024, the top five domestic robotic vacuum cleaner manufacturers (Ecovacs, Roborock, Yunjing, Xiaomi, and Dreame) accounted for 90% of the total market, a higher concentration than that of mobile phone manufacturers. The number of floor scrubber brands has been brutally reduced from 250 to 87.
Domestic brands are particularly competitive. Among the world's top five robotic vacuum cleaner brands, only iRobot is not a Chinese brand. However, iRobot's market share dropped from the second place in 2024 to the fifth place in the first quarter of this year. It only has a relatively large share in the North American and Japanese markets, and the rest of the markets are basically dominated by Chinese brands. The reason behind this is that iRobot's product iteration is slow, and it doesn't have an obvious price advantage.
The result of this involution is that companies have to continuously invest huge amounts in marketing to maintain growth.
In 2024, Ecovacs' sales expenses reached 5.017 billion yuan, accounting for more than 30% of its total revenue. Roborock's situation is similar. In 2024, its sales expenses were 2.967 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 73.23%. Among them, advertising and market promotion expenses alone reached 1.924 billion yuan.
The most obvious manifestation of marketing investment is the enthusiasm for hiring celebrity endorsements. Ecovacs signed the extremely popular Wallace Chung in 2016 and later signed Wu Lei, Hyun Bin, and Hu Ge. It has tasted the benefits of celebrity endorsements. Roborock has signed Xiao Zhan, Wang Xinling, and Zhou Ye; Yunjing has signed Liu Tao and Yu Shi; and Dreame has signed Su Bingtian, Zhang Ruoyun, Zhang Linghe and other celebrities.
At the AWE exhibitions in recent years, the cleaning appliance section has always been the most popular area. One of the important reasons is that celebrities often come to support the brands, leading to security - imposed restrictions on the number of visitors.
Large - scale marketing investment has indeed brought about growth in revenue and sales, but the phenomenon of increasing revenue without increasing profit has become very common. For example, Roborock achieved a record high revenue of nearly 12 billion yuan in 2024 and ranked first in global shipments, but its net profit decreased instead of increasing, with a year - on - year decrease of 3.64%. In the first quarter of 2025, it decreased by 32.92% year - on - year.
Moreover, after two or three years of rapid growth, product homogenization has become more and more serious. Li Siquan, a senior analyst at IDC, said that in the price range of 3,000 - 4,000 yuan, the main features of products from different brands are quite similar. For example, functions such as chassis lifting and edge cleaning show a trend of homogenization.
However, the good news is that the penetration rate of robotic vacuum cleaners is far from saturated. According to data from Aowei Cloud Network, the retail sales of robotic vacuum cleaners in China reached about 16.5 billion yuan in 2024, a year - on - year increase of more than 45%. The growth trend continued in the first quarter of 2025, with a 51.7% increase in sales volume. Li Siquan of IDC revealed that although the exact data for the second quarter of this year has not been released, considering factors such as national subsidies, the domestic robotic vacuum cleaner market will still maintain a relatively high growth rate.
Liu Hongtao told ShuZhi QianXian that the current penetration rate of robotic vacuum cleaners is only 5 - 6%, far from the ceiling, and users are mainly concentrated in first - and second - tier cities. In contrast, the penetration rate of some categories of major home appliances has even exceeded 100%.
Not long ago, Fang Hongbo, the chairman of Midea Group, mentioned robotic vacuum cleaners in an interview. Midea's robotic vacuum cleaner business lost more than 200 million yuan in 2024, but Fang Hongbo is firm in his attitude towards this category. "Let it lose. Let's see what happens in the end."
It is not difficult to find that although the market is highly competitive, the robotic vacuum cleaner market still maintains a high growth rate. This may be a good thing for new players like DJI.
In the past few years, not only have robotic vacuum cleaners seen the fastest growth in shipments, but they have also witnessed the most remarkable product innovations, such as LDS lidar, multi - functional base stations, and all - in - one mopping and sweeping solutions. These innovations have continuously promoted the rapid development of robotic vacuum cleaners. For example, Yunjing Intelligent pioneered the all - in - one mopping and sweeping function in 2019, and Roborock applied the bionic robotic arm technology to its robotic vacuum cleaners. The outside world also hopes that DJI's entry will bring some product innovations.
Leading players are exploring new markets
While DJI is still hesitant about entering the robotic vacuum cleaner market, other players have already started exploring new markets.
Roborock launched its first all - in - one washer - dryer in 2023. As a new player, the core selling point of its washing machine is the introduction of the mature molecular sieve low - temperature drying technology from the industrial field into household washing machines, opening up a "third way" for drying technology.
Chang Jing, the founder of Roborock, once explained the reason for entering the washing machine market: "It shows us the possibility for Roborock to transform from a small home appliance brand into a well - recognized mass brand."
Dreame officially announced its entry into the major home appliance markets such as air conditioners, refrigerators, and washing machines as well as the kitchen appliance field at the AWE exhibition at the beginning of this year. It launched multiple products such as air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, baking machines, range hoods, and dishwashers all at once, aiming to build a smart home ecosystem. One of the highlights of Dreame's products is the application of the robotic arm technology from its robotic vacuum cleaners to the air - guiding system of air conditioners. These products are expected to be officially launched in the third quarter of 2025.
Ecovacs is focusing on emerging categories such as air purifiers, lawn mowers, window cleaners, and intelligent cooking machines outside of cleaning appliances, avoiding the well - established major home appliance market dominated by giants.
Yunjing Intelligent, the latest entrant among these companies, has not explored other home appliance categories. Instead, it is betting on home embodied intelligent products. After all, Yunjing's top priority now is to go public and needs to tell a good story to investors.
However, robotic vacuum cleaner manufacturers also face significant challenges when entering the major home appliance market. Currently, nearly 90% of domestic robotic vacuum cleaners are sold through online channels, while only about half of major home appliances are. This means that robotic vacuum cleaner manufacturers still have a long way to go in channel construction if they want to expand into major home appliance categories.
Moreover, major home appliances have relatively high requirements for product size, installation, and after - sales service, which are rarely required for robotic vacuum cleaners. Li Siquan