DJI vs. Insta360: The Troubles of Geniuses
Recently, "DJI price cut" became a hot search topic on social platforms. According to reports, on JD.com, there have been significant price cuts for drones, gimbal cameras, action cameras, smartphone stabilizers, outdoor power supplies, etc. Among them, the Mini 4 PRO aerial photography drone has the largest price reduction, reaching up to 1,478 yuan.
Why did DJI, which holds over 70% of the global drone orders, suddenly make such a significant price cut? There are both market strategies and a battle between Insta360 and DJI:
DJI, which dominates the civilian drone market, has started to challenge Insta360's position in the panoramic camera market. Insta360, which has been ranked first in the panoramic camera market for six consecutive years, has begun to develop civilian drones, attacking DJI's core business.
In the eyes of the outside world, the battle between Insta360 and DJI is a confrontation between two top - notch hardcore technology companies in China and a duel between two tech startup geniuses. However, behind this showdown lies the worry of these two tech startup geniuses - how should a company maintain growth when its business growth hits the ceiling?
[1] The Rise of the Geniuses
"The world is so stupid, incredibly stupid," In 2016, when being interviewed by China Entrepreneur, Wang Tao, the founder of DJI, bluntly stated that he was in a state of seeking an opponent in solitude.
Wang Tao has the capital to dominate the industry. According to data, in 2015, there were more than 400 drone companies in China, collectively accounting for about 70% of the global market share. However, five years later, DJI alone monopolized 85% of the global market share.
The reason for DJI's dominance in the market is simple. Relying on its advantages in flight control systems, gimbal technology, image transmission, etc., DJI became the world's first pre - installed quad - rotor aircraft that could take off at any time, directly turning what used to be a professional drone into a consumer electronics device that costs only a few thousand yuan and is accessible to everyone.
Michael Blades, an analyst at Frost & Sullivan, sighed: "DJI pioneered the non - professional unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market, and now everyone is trying to catch up with DJI."
While Wang Tao was leading DJI to make great achievements, Liu Jingkang, who is 11 years younger than him, was on the CES exhibition stand, "teaching" Steve Wozniak, the co - founder of Apple, how to take pictures with Insta360's first panoramic camera product, the Nano.
(Source: Internet)
Actually, Insta360's development path is highly similar to that of DJI. Since its establishment, it has been surrounded by strong competitors. Companies such as GoPro, Samsung, and Ricoh have already occupied the consumer - grade camera market, and a direct confrontation would have given the newly - founded Insta360 no chance.
"Back then, only we entered the niche market of panoramic action cameras. GoPro is an action camera but not panoramic; Samsung and Ricoh are panoramic cameras but not action - oriented," recalling how Insta360 found its footing, Liu Jingkang said that Insta360's rise was due to a differentiated competition strategy.
Finally, with the positioning of "the most panoramic among action cameras and the most action - oriented among panoramic cameras", Insta360 captured the panoramic action camera market. According to Frost & Sullivan data, since 2019, Insta360 has ranked first in the panoramic camera field for six consecutive years, with a global market share of 67.2%.
Although Wang Tao and Liu Jingkang have no intersection in their academic and entrepreneurial careers and there is even a generational gap in age, Wang Tao, an 80s - born, and Liu Jingkang, a 90s - born, both took 2015 and 2016 as breakthrough points. They are both representatives of Chinese technological innovation. Relying on their independent hardcore technology and in - depth understanding of products, they have made DJI and Insta360 the "King of Drones" and the "King of Panoramic Action Cameras" respectively.
[2] A Confrontation
Drones and panoramic action cameras belong to distinct fields. As the saying goes, "Two kings never meet." However, now the kings of the two fields are "fighting".
"The fogging issue of DJI's camera is just an isolated case. Please feel free to make your purchases. Welcome everyone to conduct comparative evaluations," In August this year, as the lens of DJI's Osmo 360 panoramic camera fogged up, Liu Jingkang posted on Weibo that he would select 10 lucky people and give away Insta360 X5 sets + DJI 360 sets.
On the surface, this Weibo post seems to support DJI's panoramic camera, but the subsequent invitation to conduct comparative evaluations is highly provocative.
This is not the first time the two companies have clashed:
In April 2025, Insta360 launched the Insta360 X5 panoramic action camera. However, three months later, DJI launched its competing product, the Osmo 360. It not only has the same performance as the X5, with a maximum "360 - degree panoramic video resolution of 8K", but also costs only 2,999 yuan, only 300 yuan less than the Insta360 X5.
According to data from Smzdm: DJI's Osmo 360 was sold out during its first - sale. Affected by this, the Insta360 X5 was directly discounted. Currently, on JD.com, the standard version of the Insta360 X5 is priced at only 2,878 yuan.
When Insta360 went public in June, Liu Jingkang told the media that he didn't think there was no chance for Insta360 to enter the drone market. More than a month later, in August, Insta360 started the public beta of its panoramic drone, the "InstaAntigravity A1".
We can see that Wang Tao and Liu Jingkang have broken the unspoken rule of "Two kings never meet", and both sides are developing new businesses that shake the foundation of the other.
In DJI's official flagship store on JD.com, in addition to the "New Product Zone", "Hot - Selling Zone", etc., DJI currently has eight product categories, including drones, action cameras, sweeping robots, and outdoor power supplies. Among them, action cameras rank second, only after its main product, aerial photography drones.
More importantly, currently, in addition to the Osmo 360, DJI has five other cameras. It can be seen that Wang Tao intends to make action cameras DJI's second - largest business.
(Source: JD.com)
When promoting the InstaAntigravity A1, Insta360 even put forward the slogan of a fully immersive experience that surpasses traditional aerial photography. After comparing the InstaAntigravity A1 with DJI's drones, Guosen Securities found that the InstaAntigravity A1 has strong image quality parameters, reaching 8K 30fps; 4K 100fps, exceeding the level of DJI Mini 4K, and believes that the launch of Insta360's innovative products is conducive to promoting healthy competition in the industry.
It can be said that the two genius entrepreneurs have broken the boundary and are confronting each other, attacking each other's core business.
[3] The Geniuses' Worry
The reason for the "head - on" business battle between the two fields that should cooperate is that both Wang Tao and Liu Jingkang have reached the ceiling in their respective fields.
"The drone market is approaching saturation. DJI's revenue may reach its peak when it reaches 20 billion yuan," Although the drone industry has developed rapidly, in 2016, Wang Tao foresaw that the ceiling of the drone market was not as high as the outside world imagined.
(Source: Internet)
In 2024, DJI's overall revenue was 80 billion yuan, of which the revenue from the consumer - grade drone business was about 50 billion yuan. However, according to the analysis of the China Merchant Industry Research Institute, the growth rate of the Chinese civilian drone market will drop from 32% in 2023 to 20% in 2025.
21st Century Business Herald even pointed out that after years of rapid development, DJI is also facing a development bottleneck. Several products launched in succession are highly similar, and the market has questioned them as "incremental innovation".
The gradually saturated drone market will obviously slow down DJI's market progress in the drone field. Wang Tao has to face the issue of a second growth curve.
Actually, compared with DJI, Insta360's market situation is more severe. According to Frost & Sullivan data, the global panoramic camera market size was only 5.03 billion yuan in 2023 and is expected to grow to 7.85 billion yuan by 2027.
Previously, Insta360 even directly stated in its prospectus that the small market size was a risk factor: currently, the market capacity of panoramic cameras is small. If the growth of the industry's market capacity is limited in the future and the company fails to expand its product line and application scenarios, the company's business growth will be restricted.
Therefore, when the outside world calls Liu Jingkang the "first 90s - born on the STAR Market" and the "youngest founder on the STAR Market", China Galaxy Securities gave Insta360 a "Cautiously Recommended" rating in its research report.
Against this background, the two "geniuses" have both chosen to attack each other's core business - DJI is focusing on action cameras, and Insta360 is entering the drone market, trying to create a second growth curve in the existing market. However, the cross - border path is not smooth.
DJI needs to break into the camera market that has been occupied by GoPro and Insta360; Insta360 has to face the technological, channel, and brand barriers built by DJI in the drone field.
This "confrontation" is not only a battle for products and markets but also a comprehensive contest between the two companies in terms of strategy, endurance, and innovation resilience.
As their respective "kingdoms" become more stable, the anxiety about growth has become a common worry for the two geniuses. They have to step out of their comfort zones and engage in close - combat on unfamiliar battlefields. This head - on confrontation may also become a crucial battle for Chinese technology companies to move from a single hit product to an ecological layout and from technological leadership to systematic competition.
END
This article is from the WeChat official account "Siku Finance". Author: Qing Fu. Republished by 36Kr with permission.