DJI searches for the ground.
The long-stagnant robotic vacuum cleaner market is welcoming an intruder with a completely different temperament.
Recently, the robot vacuum - mop combo with the internal code name "ROMO" has been gradually exposed. Although it hasn't been officially announced, from the leakage of physical products, confirmation from the supply chain, to the disclosure of some parameters, all signs indicate that this "flippant" catfish has already swum closer to the center of the pond.
What really makes the industry insiders and outsiders nervous is not how cleanly this product can sweep or how thoroughly it can mop, but the name behind it - DJI.
Then why does the king of drones, which used to "soar in the sky", turn its attention to the dust on the floor? The answer to this question may start from the high - altitude field it originally belonged to.
Searching for a "Buffer Zone"
Generally speaking, players like Xiaomi and Dreame, who started from hardware, are more willing to adopt the "rapid trial - and - error" approach - rapid R & D, product launch, and then rapid iteration based on market feedback. This is also the common product philosophy in the consumer electronics field.
However, DJI is truly an exception. Despite its large scale, it rarely makes hasty moves.
There is a common belief in the industry: the number of projects personally cancelled by Wang Tao is too numerous to count. This company has an almost strict attitude towards products and a very low tolerance for failure. There is hardly a culture of "make it first and then see how it goes". In other words, DJI is not a company that likes to conduct A/B tests in the market.
Based on this, for DJI, the starting point of any new business line is not "whether it can sell ten thousand units", but to evaluate whether it can become a new pillar to resist the risks of the main business in the future.
This also explains why ROMO was polished for four years before being launched into the market. From the very beginning, it was not a "small - step - fast - run" product trial, but an ace card that must hit the mark.
Then why does a company like DJI choose to actively embrace an ordinary market that it once ignored and that is somewhat contrary to its temperament in 2025? Behind this, perhaps lies a long - term proposition that every technology brand cannot avoid - when the speed of technological evolution is faster than the expansion speed of the user base, the brand will inevitably be trapped in the "high - altitude".
Actually, as early as 2016, Wang Tao, the founder of DJI, put forward a view: when the company's annual revenue reaches 20 billion yuan, it may hit the ceiling. However, the subsequent explosion of short - video and video media opened up a new growth channel for the drone and imaging markets that DJI bet on.
In the following nearly ten years, DJI almost stepped on the most certain path for Chinese technology companies in the past decade: quickly established a global competitive advantage in a vertical market with high technological barriers, strong expression motivation, and a concentrated user group.
DJI's 2024 financial report shows that its annual revenue exceeded 80 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 35%; the net profit reached 12.056 billion yuan, and its global market share of consumer drones exceeded 70% - with strong technology, solid barriers, and extremely high profitability.
However, there are still hidden concerns in its market. After all, consumer drones are based on a "small but strong" user base - groups such as photographers, travelers, and technology enthusiasts who are more sensitive to image quality and flight experience. But for the mass market, drones are still a non - essential, high - decision - making, and low - repurchase product - suitable for building a brand, but difficult to expand infinitely.
As a simple example, in recent years, the marginal appeal of aerial photography materials on video platforms has been gradually declining, losing the charm of the "different perspective" in the past; and with the continuous iteration and upgrading of mobile phone imaging, the sales of product lines such as action cameras and stabilizers have also entered a plateau.
Therefore, although DJI's technological evolution pace has not slowed down, its core user base has become saturated. In the long run, the gap between "excessive innovation and insufficient users" will inevitably lead to a lack of growth depth.
On the other hand, the "imaging" second growth curve that DJI is trying to build is also entering a more intense involution.
Take the panoramic camera as an example. Insta360, which was established only eight years ago, is making rapid progress in this field. In 2024, its annual revenue reached 5.57 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of over 50%; in the first quarter of 2025, while continuing its high - speed growth, its revenue exceeded that of GoPro for the first time - the latter was once synonymous with sports imaging.
Although the scale is not in the same league, Insta360 has already approached DJI's core defense line in the vertical category of panoramic cameras and has become an opponent that cannot be ignored.
In July 2025, DJI will release its first panoramic action camera, which is generally regarded by the industry as a direct counter - attack against Insta360. This move also reversely confirms the sense of tension caused by the threat to DJI's right to speak in the imaging market.
In other words, although DJI is large - scale, its current business is strongly tied to the drone and imaging product lines. Once the main market slows down, the company's overall growth will inevitably hit the brakes. ROMO is a strategic product under this background. Even though the robotic vacuum cleaner market itself is not a blue ocean, it targets the mass market - even if it cannot bring explosive growth, it is enough to form a buffer zone.
Not a Disruptor, but an Intruder
The high reusability of the technical path is another core logic for DJI to choose the robotic vacuum cleaner market.
On the surface, drones soar in the air and fight against wind resistance, while robotic vacuum cleaners move slowly on the ground and bypass table legs, seemingly having nothing in common. But in the underlying technical structure, they share many core modules such as high - performance motors, path planning, and dynamic obstacle - avoidance algorithms.
In other words, compared with cross - border manufacturing of mobile phones or monitors, the robotic vacuum cleaner is a rare expansion option with relatively low technology translation cost and high structural synergy - it doesn't require DJI to become another company, but can largely reuse its existing capabilities.
From the exposed information, ROMO is equipped with a liftable LiDAR. It rises during operation for high - precision mapping and retracts automatically when encountering low - height spaces, balancing mapping accuracy and passability. It can be regarded as an extension of DJI's "flight genes" on the ground. Therefore, some industry opinions even claim that DJI's entry into the robotic vacuum cleaner market is a "dimensionality reduction strike" on the current robotic vacuum cleaner market.
But in fact, DJI's entry into the robotic vacuum cleaner market is more like an "intrusion" than a "disruption".
On the one hand, the top five brands in the Chinese robotic vacuum cleaner market account for nearly 90% of the market share. The industry is highly concentrated, and the brand pattern is basically solidified; on the other hand, the robotic vacuum cleaner has evolved into a category with similar technologies, parameter involution, and user cognitive fatigue.
If the competition before 2020 was still "technology - oriented", where the core algorithms, path planning, and module performance determined the product's upper limit and the premium space; then after 2024, the robotic vacuum cleaner has fully entered the "mainstream convergence" stage.
The gaps between brands in core indicators such as visual navigation, obstacle - avoidance ability, and cleaning structure are constantly narrowing. The parameter performance has been squeezed to the upper limit, but the effect is not obvious - the products are getting better, but it is getting harder for users to perceive the "better".
However, although there may not be a dimensionality reduction in the technical dimension, there can be a dimensionality reduction in the brand dimension.
After all, in an industry with "homogeneous products", the brand ranking itself is a lever. When users cannot make differential judgments through product functions, they will naturally shift their attention to a more stable and clearly - expected identification mechanism.
Currently, mainstream brands such as Roborock, Dreame, and Ecovacs either rely on cost - performance narratives or high - frequency marketing. Their brand credibility is built on product update frequency + channel density + price strategy - essentially driven by marketing strategies.
DJI takes a different path. It can be said that among Chinese consumer electronics brands, DJI is one of the few brands that started at the "technological divinity" position from the very beginning. And this is almost a suppressing presence in the robotic vacuum cleaner industry.
To some extent, DJI's role in the robotic vacuum cleaner industry may be like Huawei's in the mobile phone market after its comeback - the product strength doesn't need to be absolutely leading, and it doesn't engage in price competition. As long as it can align with DJI's brand tone, it can cut a slice of the cake from each leading player and firmly take a seat at the table.
After all, in a market where it is difficult to establish experience differences, "being trustworthy" is itself part of the product.
Before ROMO's Launch, the Smoke of War Has Already Risen
In fact, the industry has long heard that DJI is going to make robotic vacuum cleaners. Facing this "baby shark" DJI, the original "big fish" in the market didn't choose to wait and see. Instead, they have increased their R & D investment one after another to stockpile ammunition for the new round of war.
For example, players like Roborock and Dreame have preemptively released multi - joint robotic arm products with stronger technological perception; at the same time, the price war has not subsided, but has become more intense, and the profit margin of the entire industry is being gradually squeezed.
This may also be one of the reasons why ROMO has not emerged for a long time. After all, in the early stage of entry, DJI must stabilize its price system and brand tone - falling into the price quagmire at the beginning is meaningless for it.
According to reports from multiple media, DJI planned to launch robotic vacuum cleaners twice in 2023 and 2024, but both plans were temporarily aborted. The consideration behind this is probably related to the continuous involution of the market and the failed attempt of Dyson to "forcefully go high - end".
Although the current stage is not an ideal time for DJI, too much time has passed. And the resumption of the national subsidy after a short suspension also provides a relatively favorable and risk - controllable window for ROMO.
On the other hand, although the sales volume of the first - generation ROMO is important, what really determines its weight in the company's resource allocation is whether it can support the second and third generations and form a stable evolution of the product life cycle.
Therefore, DJI cannot always focus on the high - end market. After the brand positioning is completed, price reduction is almost an inevitable path. After all, in the competition with Insta360, DJI has used the "price weapon". Whether to launch mid - end models or enter the market with a sub - brand will depend on its final judgment of the scale and structure of this market.
As mentioned before, DJI cherishes its brand image very much. It is not being conservative, but aiming for continuous "victory" - every move must be successful. This is not only its requirement for itself, but also an anchor point for its valuation.
Ultimately, DJI's strategy never pursues "speed", but "steadiness, accuracy, and ferocity". Once it takes action, it must be systematic, have follow - up plans, and be sustainable. Therefore, when ROMO will be launched is just an "appetizer". The real highlight lies in how it will develop next and whether it can win in the end.
This article is from the WeChat official account “guangzi0088” (ID: TMTweb), author: Wen Yehao, published by 36Kr with authorization.