Nachdem DJI in sein Kerngebiet vorgedrungen ist, setzt der 66-Milliarden-Yuan-Kamera-Marktführer eine Gegenoffensive in Gang.

While the capital market was paying attention to the vacuum cleaners and panoramic cameras launched by DJI across industries, another camera giant quietly entered the drone market where DJI operates.

This camera giant is Insta360, which went public at the beginning of June this year. As of the close on July 25, Insta360's latest market value is approximately 66.4 billion yuan.

On July 23, Insta360 announced in response to investors that it has launched the layout of the drone business and plans to launch drones under two brands, including Insta360's own drone brand and a new drone brand jointly incubated with a third - party. In addition, the company will evaluate investment opportunities in the drone industry.

This "official announcement" means that Insta360 is counter - attacking DJI, its "old rival" that has entered the camera market across industries. Can this camera giant make a breakthrough in the drone market where DJI has an advantage?

A 66 - billion - yuan camera empire founded by a post - 90s entrepreneur faces challenges from DJI

On June 11, 2025, after a long 1688 - day "queue", Insta360 officially listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, with a market value of up to 71 billion yuan at the close of the first day. Subsequently, it declined slightly, and the latest market value is 66.378 billion yuan. With Insta360's listing, its founder, Liu Jingkang, became the first post - 90s chairman on the Science and Technology Innovation Board.

Liu Jingkang has a strong technical background. He started using computers in the third grade of primary school and then taught himself programming. When he failed the college entrance examination, he entered the Software Engineering major at Nanjing University with an extra 20 points for winning a computer production competition.

During his college years, Liu Jingkang worked on several technical projects. He once cracked Zhou Hongyi's mobile phone number by writing his own software based on the frequency of key presses during a 10 - second interview with Zhou Hongyi by a journalist, which attracted the attention of business tycoons such as Li Kaifu.

At this time, Liu Jingkang had already started his entrepreneurial journey. His first project was called xAd, a technology that could dynamically insert implantable advertisements into videos, which was eventually sold to an advertising and marketing company. In January 2014, Liu Jingkang officially started his business with a campus live - streaming project and quickly received an investment intention from IDG Capital.

In June 2014, after graduating from college, Liu Jingkang led the company to transform from a ToC elite school live - streaming service to a ToB V - live service and received the first angel investment of 700,000 US dollars in September.

At that time, Liu Jingkang had noticed another entrepreneurial opportunity, which was the panoramic camera. At the end of May 2014, Google released a simple VR device called Cardboard, which allowed users to experience VR with a smartphone. Due to the limited VR content at that time, the 360 - degree panoramic video content was the first to be popularized by this VR device.

360 - degree panoramic videos support multi - angle viewing. At that time, multiple cameras were generally required for shooting, which was quite complicated. For example, the White House in the United States once released a panoramic video of the interior of the White House, which was shot by a virtual reality camera Jump composed of 16 GoPro cameras. In this context, consumers' demand for a camera that supports 360 - degree panoramic videos was becoming more and more prominent.

According to media reports, in October 2014, Liu Jingkang divided the company's business into two parts: the ToB V - live service and the ToC hardware product - the panoramic camera Insta360.

In July 2015, Shenzhen Lanfeng Chuangshi Network Technology Co., Ltd., the predecessor of Insta360, was established. In December of the same year, it launched its first enterprise - level VR panoramic camera, the 4K beta, which became an instant hit. In July of the following year, Insta360 released the consumer - grade panoramic camera Insta360 Nano, which weighed only 70 grams and was compatible with Apple mobile phones. It was very popular and received orders worth 20 million yuan in just one month.

After that, Insta360 began to expand into the more mature action camera market and successively launched the Insta360 ONE and Insta360 ONE X panoramic anti - shake action cameras. By 2018, Insta360 surpassed South Korea's Samsung and Japan's Ricoh for the first time to become the brand with the highest global panoramic camera shipments, with a market share of 35%.

The prospectus shows that In 2023, Insta360 had a 67.2% share in the global consumer - grade panoramic camera market. Japan's Ricoh and GoPro, ranked second and third respectively, only had shares of 12.4% and 9.2%. Insta360 had a significant leading advantage.

From 2022 to 2024, Insta360's revenues were 2.041 billion yuan, 3.636 billion yuan, and 5.574 billion yuan respectively, maintaining a relatively fast growth rate; the net profits attributable to the parent company were 407 million yuan, 830 million yuan, and 995 million yuan respectively, showing continuous growth.

However, Insta360, which occupies two - thirds of the global consumer - grade panoramic camera market, has a new competitor.

At the end of May this year, just before Insta360's IPO stock subscription, there were rumors in the market that DJI would launch its first panoramic camera, the Osmo 360, and release it in July. On July 24, DJI officially announced that this panoramic camera product would be globally launched at 20:00 on July 31, with the slogan "See the world in an inch".

Before this, DJI had been competing with Insta360 in the action camera market for many years.

In May 2019, DJI released its first action camera, the Osmo Action, with a three - axis balance system as its core selling point and a front - facing screen, which was a pioneering design in the action camera market at that time. Since then, the Osmo Action series has been continuously updated. The latest product is the Osmo Action 5 Pro, released in September 2024, which has become Insta360's main competitor.

According to Insta360's prospectus, In the global action camera market in 2023, GoPro was still the leader, Insta360 ranked second, and DJI was the third in the industry.

The upcoming Osmo 360 means that DJI has officially entered Insta360's core market. Currently, the configuration and parameters of this product have not been officially announced, but DJI, with its strong brand and technical strength, is undoubtedly becoming a powerful competitor for Insta360.

Years of layout to enter the drone market across industries, a major counter - attack by the camera leader

Before Insta360 announced its entry into the drone market on the interactive platform, there were already spy photos of two Insta360 drones on the market. One was a drone with the "Insta360" logo and a built - in propeller protection shell, and the other was a four - rotor folding drone with the word "ANTIGRAVITY" on the fuselage.

It is understood that "ANTIGRAVITY" is translated as "Yingling" in Chinese, which is a trademark being applied for registration by Zhuhai Yingling Technology Co., Ltd., a wholly - owned subsidiary of Insta360. Shenzhen Yingling Technology Co., Ltd., a wholly - owned subsidiary of Zhuhai Yingling, recently registered a Weibo account named "Yingling Antigravity".

Enterprise search shows that Shenzhen Yingling was established in January this year, and its business scope covers areas such as the manufacturing and sales of intelligent unmanned aerial vehicles, the manufacturing and sales of wearable smart devices.

From the perspective of patent layout, Insta360's entry into the drone market is not a sudden decision. It had achieved certain research results in the drone field at least in July 2020.

The prospectus shows that since July 1, 2020, Insta360 has continuously registered a number of patents related to "drones" and "panoramic drones", and the patent layout has been continuously deepened, covering aspects such as drone structure, propellers, and power systems.

In 2021, Insta360 obtained patents for drone antenna components and shock - absorbing structures. In 2022, it obtained patents such as "lens protection and drones" and "hub components, blade kits, drone power kits, and drones". In 2023, it obtained patents such as "propeller components and power systems" and "driving devices, power systems, and aircraft".

In mid - May this year, the official website of the National Intellectual Property Administration announced two patents applied for and authorized by Insta360. One was "unmanned aerial vehicle frames and unmanned aerial vehicles" (patent publication number CN222845497U), and the other was "drones" (patent publication number CN222876301U). Both patents were applied for by Insta360 at the end of June 2024.

Among them, the first patent adds a lens protection structure that can cover the lens when the drone lands and form protruding feet, acting like a landing gear. The schematic diagram of the drone in the second patent shows a four - rotor design, and the integrated connection between the rotor guard and the landing gear improves the structural strength.

For Insta360, entering the drone market can, on the one hand, use offense as defense to deal with DJI's attack. On the other hand, one of the major application scenarios of drones is aerial photography, which can form a synergistic effect with Insta360's existing camera business and expand the revenue sources.

The prospectus shows that Currently, Insta360's revenue mainly comes from consumer - grade intelligent imaging devices, accounting for more than 80% of the main business revenue. The revenue scale of accessories and other products has gradually increased in recent years, accounting for about 12% - 13%. The scale of professional - grade intelligent imaging devices is relatively small. From 2022 to 2024, the revenues were only 47.7432 million yuan, 33.9472 million yuan, and 23.5569 million yuan respectively, and the proportion in the total revenue has dropped to 0.43%.

If Insta360 can successfully expand the consumer - grade drone market, it is expected to achieve more diversified revenue sources.

However, it should be noted that The technical barriers in the drone market are relatively high, and enterprises need continuous and large - scale R & D investment. From 2022 to 2024, Insta360's R & D expenses were 256 million yuan, 448 million yuan, and 777 million yuan respectively, with R & D expense ratios of 12.54%, 12.31%, and 13.93% respectively. But compared with DJI, which plans to invest no less than 30 billion yuan in R & D from 2024 to 2030, Insta360's R & D investment scale is still relatively small.

In the consumer - grade drone market, DJI currently has an absolute advantage. According to a research report from Kaiyuan Securities, In 2018, DJI had a market share of up to 85% in the global civilian drone market. In recent years, although brands such as Xiaomi have entered the consumer - grade drone market, DJI's market position remains stable. Whether Insta360's upcoming drone products can successfully challenge DJI will be continuously monitored by Chidu Business.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Delin Society" (ID: delinshe), written by Dong Wuying and edited by Zhang Jiaru. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.