DJI and Insta360 finally have a “showdown on Mount Hua.” Who will become the “stepping stone” for whom?

“The biggest misfortune for us is having DJI on the track, and the biggest fortune is also having DJI,” This is the most direct sentiment expressed by Liu Jingkang, the founder of Insta360, towards its competitor DJI during an interview some time ago.

When it went public, Insta360 created a market value with a 70 - fold P/E ratio, causing a stir in the capital market. However, since this year, both DJI and Dreame have entered the panoramic camera market, and Insta360 still bears a considerable amount of pressure.

According to Lei Feng Network, Zhang Bo, a former employee of DJI, has joined Insta360 and serves as the sales director for the Chinese market. Previously, he worked under Yuan Dong, the vice - president of DJI's sales, and almost witnessed the entire process of DJI's reform of its distributor system.

The report mentioned that currently, Zhang Bo is working on a major adjustment and layout of Insta360's distributor system, and at the same time, rectifying and optimizing the CRM system of agents. It has become a foreseeable “open strategy” for Insta360 to learn from DJI.

In the era of widespread smartphones, the traditional camera industry was once labeled as a “sunset industry”. However, innovative products such as panoramic cameras and action cameras have opened up new development space and pulled the industry into a new round of involution competition.

Is DJI a “stumbling block” for Insta360?

Insta360 has a very rich product line, covering consumer - grade panoramic cameras, professional - grade panoramic cameras, action cameras, Vlog cameras, AI mobile phone stabilizers, video conference cameras, etc. The product types include consumer - grade intelligent imaging devices, professional - grade intelligent imaging devices, accessories, and other products.

However, what really made Insta360 famous was the booming development of outdoor sports on social media. Among them, consumer - grade products mainly include seven series such as the ONE X panoramic camera, Ace action camera, GO wearable action camera, ONE R panoramic camera/modular action camera, and Flow mobile phone gimbal. The ONE X series is the main sales force. In 2024, consumer - grade products contributed up to 86.59% of the revenue.

For every 10 panoramic cameras sold globally, 8 are from Insta360. Such excellent results have always relied on Insta360's core competencies such as imaging technology, AI algorithms, and anti - shake technology.

From the perspective of the global market competition pattern in the past two years, Insta360's products have firmly occupied the leading position in the global panoramic action camera field. According to the data disclosed in the prospectus, in 2023, the company's brand “Insta360” had a market share of approximately 67.2% in the consumer - grade panoramic camera market, far ahead of other competitors. The second and third - ranked companies are Ricoh from Japan with a market share of 12% and GoPro from the United States with a market share of 9% respectively.

In the broader action camera field, although Insta360 has been making continuous efforts, it still faces two strong competitors - GoPro from the United States and the industry giant DJI from China.

DJI's main business is concentrated in the drone field, and its market share in the consumer - grade action camera market is relatively small. It is estimated that the sales volume in 2024 will be approximately 1 million units. Calculated at a price of between 2,000 and 3,000 yuan per unit, DJI's revenue in this area is estimated to be between 2 billion and 3 billion yuan, ranking second. Although Insta360 dominates the global panoramic action camera market, in the non - panoramic action camera field, its revenue is approximately 1.5 billion yuan, ranking third.

Currently, Insta360 has launched two generations of products for its Ace series action cameras. The revenue soared from 97 million yuan in 2023 to 276 million yuan in the first half of 2024. DJI's Pocket 3 gimbal camera was once in short supply.

According to the data from Magic Mirror Insight, within one year of its product launch, the sales volume of DJI's Pocket 3 on the Taobao and Tmall platforms reached 124 million yuan, ranking first in the ordinary digital camera category on this platform. Its sales volume even exceeded the combined sales of Insta360's Insta360 GO 3s, which ranked second, and Sony's ZV - 1, which ranked third, during the same period.

Although Insta360 has established an absolute leading position in the more segmented panoramic action camera field, the highly vertical market also means that the overall market space is relatively limited. This also explains why Insta360 needs to make major adjustments to its distribution system. Even if it dominates this field, its future growth will still be restricted by the industry ceiling.

Previously, Insta360 mainly adopted a model that combined online and offline, direct sales and distribution to achieve global sales of its products. By 2024, the proportion of online and offline sales was basically close to 1:1. The proportion of sales on the official website mall reached 18.81%, and the proportion of sales on third - party e - commerce platforms reached 24.39%. Offline sales mainly relied on distribution, and the proportion of distribution sales reached 44.37%.

Online, the company mainly conducts global sales through its own official website mall and mainstream domestic and foreign third - party e - commerce platforms such as Amazon, Tmall, and JD.com. Among them, all sales links in the direct - sales channel are independently operated and managed by the company; in the e - commerce platform channel, the company adopts the warehousing model for product sales.

Offline, the company mainly relies on large - scale supermarkets, professional retail channels, distributors, and direct - sales customers for promotion and sales. The offline channels it cooperates with include well - known chain supermarkets and shopping malls such as Best Buy, Suning, and Sam's Club. Except for large - scale distributors such as Apple Store retail stores (CMS), which adopt the consignment sales method, the company adopts the buy - out sales model for most distributors.

The core of this channel strategy is to accurately address the deep - seated challenges faced by target customers, especially overseas professional distributors, professional users, and consumers who value product experience when purchasing high - tech imaging products, such as high trust thresholds, lack of actual product experience, and insufficient local services.

In order to expand its influence in China, Insta360 began to strengthen product and brand marketing after the Spring Festival. From the launch of a handle accessory for its action camera to the press conference of its new flagship X5, it has been investing heavily in advertising.

In addition to traditional methods such as sponsoring professional sports events and signing brand ambassadors, Insta360 has also deeply deployed content marketing.

At the UGC level, the brand launched theme challenges such as “The first - person perspective of extreme sports” and “Take Insta360 to XX”, integrating and publishing high - quality user - generated content on major social platforms, forming a positive closed - loop of “old users create - brand spreads - new users follow”.

At the PUGC level, Insta360 relies on co - creation with KOLs in the professional digital field to enhance the brand's image and demonstrate its technological strength. According to the data from Qianwa Data, from January to June 2025, Insta360 allocated approximately 57% of its investment resources to mid - tier and novice influencers.

For example, in cooperation with the well - known blogger @Tao Agoujun, it created the popular nail - head effect across the network. Local governments use it to shoot cultural and tourism promotions, and brands use it to check in at landmark buildings. There are hundreds of thousands of related notes and tutorials on Xiaohongshu and Douyin. It was even so popular that people queued up to buy the same panoramic camera overseas.

Another well - known digital blogger, @Chenghong Iris, used a panoramic camera to record a friend's wedding. With a 360 - degree all - round lens, it captured the touching moment when the bride's mother shed tears. This kind of content creation that combines humanistic care, user participation, and brand concepts not only fully demonstrates the excellent performance of Insta360's cameras but also successfully shapes the brand's overall image of being high - end, avant - garde, and innovative.

Industry insiders revealed that as soon as a new KOL emerges, Insta360 will offer an olive branch immediately. Due to its long - term focus on marketing layout, Insta360 has gradually established a marketing system and methodology centered around KOLs.

On Douyin, the topic #Panoramic cameras are still too comprehensive launched by Insta360 has been participated in by hundreds of bloggers, accumulating 250 million views.

In contrast, DJI's marketing team seems to be an invisible department. Some analysts believe that since Xie Jia, the second - in - command of the company, left in 2020, there has been little budget allocated to content marketing. There are even rumors that Wang Tao believes that as long as the product has leadership, marketing is dispensable.

Facing the 360 - degree encirclement and suppression from its peers, DJI has also realized its mistakes and started to frantically expand its marketing team, significantly increase its marketing budget, and fully launched a battle for KOLs in the hardware 3C field with Insta360. The popularity of DJI's Pocket 3 for Vlog shooting in 2024 is a direct manifestation of the competition between the two sides.

According to Insta360's latest prospectus, the company still faces the risk of being involved in the 337 investigation in the United States and related lawsuits. If the final result of the 337 investigation is unfavorable to the company, the relevant products involved in the case may not be able to continue to be sold in the United States.

Now that DJI's Osmo 360 is about to be launched, directly competing with Insta360's X5 in terms of product and pricing, a fierce battle between the two sides on the channel side is inevitable.

Is Insta360 a “touchstone” for DJI?

Nowadays, most consumer electronics companies mainly upgrade their product lines, continuously improving in terms of parameters and technical indicators, lacking the epoch - making “iPhone moment”.

Insta360 once amazed the industry with its Insta360 Nano panoramic camera. Later, its ONE X series pioneered the function of “shoot first, then frame”. However, the Nano series was phased out due to the lack of practical application scenarios.

In 2016, DJI's Mavic series emerged, establishing its monopoly position in the consumer - grade market through its revolutionary folding design. Two years later, the second - generation model directly incorporated Hasselblad's 1 - inch CMOS into the body, raising the image quality of consumer - grade aerial photography to a professional level. Subsequently, the dual - camera and triple - camera systems further brought industrial - grade aerial photography to the consumer - grade level.

Different from Insta360's expansion of its ecological boundaries, DJI's product innovation has always been based on the reuse of core technologies. For example, its stabilization technology has evolved from drone gimbals to Ronin handheld stabilizers and then to the Osmo Pocket series; in the battery and motor fields, the efficient power supply solutions for drones have been applied to portable power stations and electric bicycles; as for the obstacle - avoidance system, the perception technology of drones also provides navigation support for ground robots.

However, the complex and changeable external environment, combined with the differentiated competition strategies of its opponents, have also made it difficult for DJI to make breakthroughs in the fields of battery life and independent chip R & D.

Some industry insiders said that Wang Tao of DJI has personally cancelled countless R & D projects at DJI. For any new business line, the requirement is to become an independent growth curve, and the tolerance for product failure is extremely low.

According to Lei Feng Network, Wang Tao is now very vigilant about Insta360 because the business overlap between the two companies is very high. He has always been worried that if Insta360 goes public and counter - attacks, and is also successful in the drone field, it will become an unavoidable enemy for DJI.

Insta360's core barrier lies in its software ecosystem. Technologies such as the invisible selfie - stick algorithm, FlowState anti - shake algorithm, six - axis gyroscope, and AI editing are Insta360's “moats”. Product innovation has enabled the company to avoid falling into the trap of homogenization.

Even so, with years of accumulation in the field of drone imaging, DJI has mastered mature imaging technologies and occupies a leading position in drone gimbal technology, providing an extremely stable shooting experience. These technological advantages are also applicable to the R & D and production of panoramic cameras.

DJI is also not willing to be outdone in the panoramic camera field, which Insta360 is proud of.

According to the design drawings disclosed by the FCC, DJI is going to launch the DJI Osmo 360, which adopts a symmetrical dual - lens layout, making the body more compact than most panoramic cameras on the current market and greatly improving portability. It is worth noting that this device is equipped with a 1950mAh battery, which is the same specification as the newly launched Osmo Action 5 Pro. This seems to indicate that DJI is committed to creating a more powerful closed - loop handheld imaging ecosystem through the synergy of hardware.

In addition, DJI has established a relatively complete imaging ecosystem, covering a variety of imaging products from drones to action cameras, and has a global sales channel and network, which provides strong support for its expansion in the panoramic camera market.

Although there is no conclusive evidence to prove that DJI's action camera series is targeting Insta360, DJI has indeed adopted a strategy of low - price and high - performance in the action camera field, always keeping its prices lower than Insta360's.

According to the report from China Photography News, within two days after DJI officially launched its first action camera, the Action, with an official price of 2,499 yuan, GoPro's Tmall store directly reduced the price of its best - performing Hero7 Black standard version from the previous 3,398 yuan to 2,798 yuan.

Later, DJI's Action 5 Pro and Insta360's Ace Pro 2 have the same product positioning and almost the same parameters, but the retail price of the former is 100 yuan cheaper. The escalation of the price war has further raised the technical threshold.

Facing such a blatant product threat, Insta360 is also not willing to be outdone. It has also started to develop payload cameras for drones along DJI's product line. In its prospectus, in addition to mentioning the current technologies such as panoramic, anti - shake, AI, and machine - vision perception, Insta360 also specifically mentioned flight control technology and stated that the company will continue to cultivate talents in related fields to further expand its intelligent imaging robot product line.