Two Shenzhen-based enterprises have launched a "world-class business battle".

On July 31, DJI officially launched its first panoramic camera, the "Osmo 360", which caught the market's attention.

Facing DJI's move into its territory, Insta360, a company deeply rooted in the panoramic camera market, didn't sit idle and revealed the latest progress of its drone products.

The world's number one consumer drone company and the world's number one panoramic camera company have "coincidentally" entered each other's "territories".

What's more interesting is that these two world - class companies are from the same city - Shenzhen.

A "world - class business battle" has officially begun!

01 Crossing into Each Other's Turf

The game between DJI and Insta360 started in late July.

At that time, on July 23, Insta360 announced with high - profile that it would enter the drone industry and unveiled its drone brand, "Antigravity".

Spy photos of Antigravity drones

Just one day later, DJI issued a notice announcing its entry into the panoramic camera industry.

DJI's first panoramic camera, the Osmo 360, emerged out of nowhere a week after the notice was issued.

Seeing that DJI not only issued a notice but also actually launched a product, Insta360 couldn't sit still.

Insta360 quickly disclosed more details about the Antigravity drone and announced that this drone would recruit beta testers in August.

Once it enters the beta - testing stage, it means that the development of the Antigravity drone has entered the fast lane and is likely to be launched within 2025.

Insta360 and DJI crossing into each other's territories is a cross - border competition.

DJI is the world's number one consumer drone company, with a global market share of over 70%. Its market share in the North American and European markets is as high as 85%, and its revenue in 2024 exceeded 80 billion yuan.

Insta360 is the world's number one panoramic camera company, with a global market share of up to 81%.

In June this year, Insta360 was just listed on the STAR Market, with a market value of over 60 billion yuan.

Insta360's listing on the STAR Market

The cross - border competition between DJI and Insta360 may seem sudden on the surface, but in fact, these two companies have tried cross - border development more than once.

In 2015, DJI acquired Hasselblad, a well - established Swedish optical brand. Later, starting from 2021, it successively launched several movie cameras, showing a strong interest in the optical field.

Insta360 hasn't stopped at panoramic cameras either.

Since 2015, Insta360 has been making efforts in the non - panoramic traditional action camera market, successively launching products such as the Go 3 series and the Ace pro series. As a result, GoPro, which used to dominate the traditional action camera market, has lost a large amount of market share, and its revenue and net profit have been surpassed by Insta360.

Comparison of net profits between Insta360 and GoPro

For DJI and Insta360, it's reasonable to cross - border to find new tracks.

Insta360 and DJI are crossing into each other's territories because they both value each other's markets.

Insta360 has a global market share of up to 81% in the panoramic camera field, and it has basically hit the industry ceiling.

How to obtain greater growth space has become a difficult problem for Insta360.

Diversified layout is almost an inevitable choice.

The consumer drone field where DJI is located has a large enough market and considerable growth potential.

Estimated global drone market size by IMARC

According to the estimate of IMARC, a global business information consulting company, the market size of consumer drones was about $5.2 billion in 2024. In the future, with the growing demand for higher image quality and immersive experience from users, the market size will further expand. It may reach $13.9 billion by 2033, with a compound annual growth rate of over 10.32%.

Although DJI currently has a market share of over 70%, considering the large growth space of the drone market, DJI may not be able to capture the entire market.

The market is large enough, and Insta360 still has a chance.

Similar to Insta360, DJI is also pursuing diversified development.

Just last night, DJI launched its first series of floor - sweeping robots, the ROMO series.

DJI's first floor - sweeping robot, the ROMO series

The unique 360 - degree seamless imaging of panoramic cameras provides a more immersive experience compared to traditional cameras with a single - view perspective, and has great development potential in outdoor sports and VR/AR fields.

The growing market of panoramic cameras is quite attractive to DJI.

02 Healthy Competition

The strategies of these two companies in crossing into new markets also have their own characteristics.

Insta360's strategy is to make steady progress.

According to the information disclosed by Insta360 itself, the first product of the Antigravity drone is a panoramic drone in terms of shooting mode, which can apply Insta360's relatively mature technical experience.

Insta360 panoramic camera

Relying on the technical experience accumulated in panoramic photography, Insta360 can directly apply its 8K image quality and 6 - axis gyroscope + FlowState anti - shake technology to the Antigravity drone.

Moreover, Insta360's Insta360studio editing software can also be combined with the Antigravity drone.

This is a very efficient AI editing software. After users finish recording, they don't need to operate on other editing platforms.

Insta360 can provide users with a good "flight - shooting - editing integration" service.

Insta360studio editing software

Moreover, Insta360 especially emphasizes the "lightweight" of the Antigravity drone, setting its weight to no more than 250g.

With this weight, if it is equipped with folding wings, it can fully meet the need to be carried around and even put into a pocket.

Good portability can greatly increase the frequency of use after users purchase the drone and the interaction on social platforms and the self - developed editing software, which is beneficial for Insta360 to operate its user community.

A weight of less than 250g also helps to meet the compliance requirements for drones in various countries around the world.

For example, the EU stipulates that drones weighing more than 250g require pilots to have a professional license. The Antigravity drone will be defined as a "micro - drone", which is a low - risk device and does not require a professional license.

Another example is that the US Federal Aviation Administration stipulates that both drone pilots and drone devices need to be registered, and the device ID needs to upload identity and location information in real - time. However, drones weighing less than 250g are not subject to these restrictions.

The EU countries, the United States, and China are Insta360's three largest markets. The relevant laws and regulations in countries such as the UK and Japan regarding drones are also relatively similar.

The weight of the Antigravity drone being less than 250g means that it can adapt to the laws and regulations of multiple countries, which is very beneficial for the Antigravity drone to expand overseas markets.

DJI's strategy focuses on piling up technology.

Like many of DJI's previous drone products, the panoramic camera is essentially a combination of optical components and smart devices.

In the optical field, the lenses of DJI drones are mainly provided by Lianchuang Electronics, Yutong, and its own Hasselblad, while the image sensors paired with the lenses mainly come from Sony.

The matching of these different lenses and sensors, as well as the processing of light and color, require good algorithm tuning to satisfy users.

DJI Osmo 360

After more than a decade of accumulation, DJI has enough rich tuning experience and can directly apply it to the panoramic camera.

Moreover, the anti - shake technology and gimbal algorithms accumulated by DJI on its Action and Pocket series action cameras and drones can also be directly applied to the panoramic camera.

In addition, DJI can reduce costs through its larger scale and supply chain and the effect of economies of scale.

Therefore, it's reasonable that DJI's newly launched Osmo panoramic camera can achieve 8K image quality, come with electronic stabilization and horizontal locking stabilization technology, and still be priced under 3,000 yuan.

Of course, neither DJI nor Insta360 has had a smooth ride in cross - border competition.

Especially since both companies have a group of fixed users in their respective fields, and a habitual thinking of "use DJI for drones" and "use Insta360 for panoramic cameras" has formed. It will take both of them more time, more products, and more technological accumulation to completely change this perception.

From another perspective, both DJI and Insta360 are number one in their respective fields, with years of technological accumulation, a good brand image, and a loyal user base.

It's actually very difficult for them to squeeze each other out of their "core businesses". It's more likely to evolve into a situation of "you in me, me in you".

Both companies can gain a certain market share and business growth, and consumers will also have more choices.

As Liu Jingkang, the founder of Insta360, posted on his WeChat Moments, saying that "the motivation to make drones is mainly the incremental space in the market" and that he "respects DJI very much".

Liu Jingkang, the founder of Insta360, posting on WeChat Moments

The cross - border competition between DJI and Insta360 is a healthy competition.

03 The Shenzhen Derby

The cross - border competition between DJI and Insta360, two "world - number - one" companies, may affect the global market pattern of panoramic cameras and consumer drones.

It's not an overstatement to call it a "world - class business battle".

In football, a match between two teams from the same city is called a "derby".

This "world - class business battle" is actually a Shenzhen derby.

Both DJI and Insta360 are from Shenzhen, and they have both benefited from Shenzhen's industrial ecosystem during their establishment and development.

In the early stage of entrepreneurship, both DJI and Insta360 obtained incubators and talent reserves through the Shenzhen - Hong Kong Institute of Industry, Academia and Research and Shenzhen's "Peacock Plan" to attract technical talents.

Insta360's headquarters is located in Bao'an District, Shenzhen. The R & D and implementation of its panoramic cameras cannot be separated from the support provided by the open scenarios in Bao'an.

Insta360's headquarters is located in Bao'an District, Shenzhen

Insta360's self - developed AI automatic editing function was verified in the aerial follow - up shooting scenario of the Bao'an Marathon, which shortened the product iteration cycle by six months and helped it to be launched quickly.

During its