Revenue increased by 51%, but the stock price fell at the opening. After Insta360 broke through the 100 billion yuan market value | Focus analysis
Author | Zhang Ziyi
Editor | Yuan Silai
Less than three months after its listing, Insta360 (688775.SH) has already become one of the most eye - catching companies on the A - share market this year.
In the past few weeks, the stock price of Insta360 has repeatedly hit new highs. Some investors commented on the stock forum that Insta360 "combines three popular tracks of AI, panoramic, and drones, making it extremely scarce." Some investors even referred to Insta360 and Cambricon as the "Queen of Insta" and the "King of Cambricon."
Since its listing, Insta360's stock price has been performing well, and its market value once remained at around 70 billion yuan.
On the evening of August 28, Insta360 released its semi - annual report for 2025. Its operating income in the first half of the year was 3.671 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 51.17%; the net profit attributable to the owners of the parent company was 520 million yuan, a year - on - year increase of 0.25%.
After the release of the financial report, on August 29, as of the time of publication, Insta360's stock price reached 326.61 yuan per share, slightly down about 7% (still changing in real - time), and its market value exceeded 130 billion yuan.
Behind this performance of rising revenue and slightly increasing net profit, both Insta360's R & D expenses and sales expenses have increased significantly. The former increased by 100.35% year - on - year, reaching 562 million yuan; the latter increased by 75.46%, reaching 628 million yuan. It can be seen that the spending on R & D and sales has exceeded Insta360's net profit in the first half of the year.
Behind its market value of over 100 billion yuan, Insta360 has to face a more intense intelligent imaging market. It has to face the giant DJI directly and also deal with emerging startups.
While defending its advantageous tracks, Insta360 is also attacking its opponents' fortresses. Recently, it has intensively released the imaging product GO Ultra and the drone product "Antigravity."
As one of the few hardware companies listed on the A - share market, Insta360 will have a continuous supply of resources in the short term. Obviously, Insta360 wants to seize this crucial period to take a step forward.
01 Learning and Borrowing
Insta360 is standing at a turning point in the industry.
In the primary market of 2025, entrepreneurship in the intelligent imaging field has become popular. Many companies have started to produce pendant mini - cameras worn above the shoulders and necks.
36Kr has learned that Photon Leap, invested by Zhuichuang Venture Capital, at least initially targeted the Insta360 GO series with the form of its first imaging product; Looki, founded by a former senior technology executive of Meituan, positioned its first - generation product L1 as a multi - modal AI hardware in the form of a pendant camera, targeting outdoor sports enthusiasts and consumers with the need to record parent - child videos. There is an overlap in the target audience with the Insta360 GO series.
As for DJI, foreign media have reported that DJI's R & D of Osmo Nano may be its smallest action camera, and it is planned to be released in August or September. Undoubtedly, its form and function are also targeting the Insta360 GO series.
In the past, Insta360's GO series, seemingly a niche product, showed amazing explosive power. Insta360's financial report shows that from 2022 to 2024, the sales revenue of the GO series was 127 million yuan, 462 million yuan, and 901 million yuan respectively. This growth rate is not common in the current consumer electronics industry.
Insta360 GO3 series. Image source: Insta360
Moreover, Insta360 has discovered a new group of users of travel and lifestyle video content and completed user education.
Insta360 has let others see the potential of the imaging track. In China, there will never be a shortage of followers in a profitable hardware business. Taking action cameras as an example, mobile phone manufacturers' cultivation of the supply - chain industry for mobile phone lenses over the years has basically realized the localization of components such as lens modules, structural parts, and batteries required for imaging products.
Start - up companies can hardly overcome the technologies such as DJI Pocket's gimbal and the technical barriers of Insta360's panoramic camera series in a short time, but they are capable of assembling a mini - form camera product in the Pearl River Delta region.
This is an era of close - combat competition. The front lines between companies are constantly changing, and Insta360 can only continuously strengthen its defenses.
02 To Surpass or Be Surpassed
The GO Ultra was released on August 21 and is positioned as a new flagship sub - line of the GO series. It has changed the ultra - mini form of the previous GO series' "thumb camera," being heavier and larger in size. Of course, its performance is also more powerful.
Insta360 GO Ultra. Image source: Insta360
In terms of configuration, the GO Ultra brings the same 1/1.28 - inch large - sensor as Insta360's flagship panoramic camera X5 to the GO series, with a photosensitive area 221% larger than that of the GO 3S; it is equipped with the same 5nm AI chip as the panoramic camera X5, with a 50 - fold increase in computing power. Therefore, it can achieve ultra - high - definition video recording of up to 4K 60fps, and its night - video recording ability has also been improved.
In terms of battery life, the GO Ultra has become the world's first action camera equipped with a laminated battery. In the long - battery - life mode, a single camera can achieve a 70 - minute battery life, and with the extended battery compartment, the battery life can exceed 200 minutes.
The main body of the GO Ultra weighs 53g, while the main body of the GO 3S weighs 39g. Although the new - generation product is 14g heavier than the previous one, it is still the lightest action camera at present.
From the change in the design form of the GO Ultra, it can be seen that Insta360, which used to strive for a balance between lightness and performance, is also learning to "compromise."
The ultra - mini form of the GO series is bound to limit battery life and image quality, which is an inherent disadvantage in its structure. Insta360's iteration of the thumb - shaped product through four generations may have squeezed the performance of this product to the limit. The GO Ultra changes the previous "thumb" structure, releasing more space and comprehensively improving performance, which may better cope with the highly competitive imaging market.
This is a defensive posture. As a listed company carrying the expectations of shareholders, Insta360 must also take the offensive.
And they choose to tackle difficult challenges.
DJI has long occupied more than 70% of the consumer - grade drone market. However, in Insta360's semi - annual report, the company's management also has high expectations for the drone business. They believe that the drone category has a higher - ceiling market scale, and many demands are still unmet. At the same time, a new category like panoramic drones can achieve functions that traditional cameras and traditional drones cannot, cover more new usage scenarios, and create an incremental market.
Insta360 plans to launch drone products under two brands in the future, including its own drone brand and the Antigravity panoramic drone brand. However, as of now, the panoramic drone product is still in the public - testing stage, and the mass - production problem is still being solved. It has not been officially launched.
In addition to drones, Insta360 has many new products under development, including a new - generation wearable camera, a wearable jewelry camera, an intelligent flying robot, a handheld portable Vlog camera, etc. There are 13 R & D projects in total, with an estimated total investment of 1.6 billion yuan.
Continuous innovation is the key to the growth of hardware enterprises. Insta360's R & D expenses may continue to increase. However, sacrificing some short - term interests and investing in more difficult and less - controllable technology R & D is the inevitable path for a hardware enterprise to cross the gap. Insta360 is so young, and there are still too many mountains standing in front of it at this moment.