DJI and Insta360 are in competition, but are young people starting to lose their fascination with action cameras?

Image source: DJI official website

In recent years, especially in 2025, it seems to be the "blazing" year for the outdoor photography equipment market.

From outdoor sports bloggers using Insta360 action cameras to record cycling and hiking anytime and anywhere, to Vloggers using DJI's Pocket cameras to shoot daily life, and even ordinary people inadvertently showing DJI's watermark in the photos posted on their WeChat Moments... The era of "one outdoor camera per person" has arrived.

The data is more intuitive. According to the monitoring of the Chinese e-commerce market by Sandalwood, as of October 2025, the sales volume of action cameras reached 4.76 million units, a year-on-year increase of more than 252%, and the sales revenue increased by more than 316% year-on-year. Another report, "2025 China E-commerce Development Report", shows that as of November this year, the turnover of action cameras soared by 6191%.

Features such as being small, portable, and cost-effective... These advantages attract young people to buy this "new toy". However, under the consumption boom, many young people "buy it quietly" and let their "Pocket 3" cameras gradually gather dust or be put up for sale on second-hand platforms.

When young people disenchant with outdoor cameras, how long can this boom last?

Market Heating Up, Two Giants Competing

Open social platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Weibo, and you can intuitively feel what outdoor cameras mean to young people. In many user-sharing notes, whether it is DJI Osmo Pocket, DJI Action series, or Insta360, they are often closely related to themes such as "Vlog", "good life", "travel", and "outdoor". Countless users also associate them with labels such as "professionalism", "cinematic feel", and "photo-taking magic weapon".

Some people use it to record outdoor sports, such as hiking, cycling, and skiing. "I take my Insta360 with me every time I go hiking or play in the water." Some use it to attend concerts and music festivals. "I declare that Pocket 3 is the most powerful concert camera." Others just use it to replace digital cameras and record daily life more conveniently and quickly. "It's not that digital cameras are unaffordable, but action cameras are more cost-effective." In short, for Chinese young people who "want to take good photos in their lives", it seems easy to fall in love with action cameras.

Some products of Insta360. Image source: Insta360 official website

After all, functions such as first-person perspective shooting, ultra-wide-angle, and 4K + HDR of action cameras cannot be met by ordinary smartphones. The features of being small and portable also make "recording" seem easier. In addition, the price of entry-level action cameras is generally between 300 yuan and 800 yuan, and the price of mid-range pocket cameras such as the standard set of DJI Pocket 3 has dropped below 3000 yuan. The high-end set can also control the budget within 5000 yuan, which lowers the consumption threshold a lot.

On the other hand, when DJI's watermark frequently appears in WeChat Moments and bloggers on social platforms all have a DJI or Insta360 camera, in this era of "everyone is a self-media", outdoor cameras undoubtedly have an additional identity, that is, "social currency". Thus, the boom in outdoor photography emerged.

In fact, action cameras are not a new thing. Once upon a time, the American brand GoPro introduced the action camera category to the Chinese market. As soon as it appeared, it set off a buying boom and even drove the explosive development of the market. But that boom soon passed. One main reason is that at that time, action cameras were mainly targeted at professional outdoor enthusiasts.

Now, domestic brands such as DJI and Insta360 have built product lines that cover a relatively wide range of people, which is enough to transform action cameras from "niche toys" to "one per person".

So the market continues to heat up, and DJI and Insta360 have become the "two giants" in the market. The "Global Panoramic and Action Camera Market Research Report" released by Jiqian Consulting shows that in 2022, GoPro monopolized the global market with an 84% share. As of Q1 - Q3 in 2025, DJI topped the list with a 66% share, Insta360 accounted for 13%, and GoPro shrank to 18%. In the field of panoramic cameras, from Q3 2024 to Q3 2025, Insta360 has continuously maintained the leading position, and GoPro's market share has always been below 5%, significantly lower than that of Insta360 and the newly entered DJI.

The competition is becoming more and more fierce. On the one hand, the "two giants" are constantly benchmarking against each other. For example, DJI entered the panoramic camera market in July 2025 and listed Insta360 X5 as the benchmark product. In less than three months, DJI's first product, Osmo 360, achieved an overtaking and has occupied 49% of the market share in the Chinese e-commerce channel. Insta360's market share in the Chinese e-commerce channel has also shrunk significantly to 47%. Since DJI Osmo 360 is priced at 2999 yuan, 800 yuan lower than the original price of Insta360 X5, Insta360 quickly counterattacked by reducing the price of Insta360 X5 by 500 yuan. In October 2025, it also launched its second panoramic camera this year, "Insta360 X4 Air", featuring 8K video recording and "lightweight".

DJI Osmo Action series

In addition, both Insta360 and DJI strengthened their "thumb cameras" in 2025 and successively launched Insta Go Ultra and OSMO Nano, further focusing on daily shooting.

Of course, as the market heats up, more players have entered. At the IFA Berlin Consumer Electronics Show in September 2025, the smart imaging brand "Photon Leap" under Dreame Technology made its debut with its first action camera. Domestic mobile phone manufacturers such as Honor, OPPO, vivo, and Xiaomi have also been reported to be about to launch new Pocket-shaped products intensively.

Will this bring new changes?

From Buying to Renting, Is It a Doomed "Dusty" Consumption Boom?

The market continues to heat up, but consumers are starting to "disenchant".

"I'm disenchanted with action cameras." On social platforms such as Xiaohongshu, many consumers have posted notes saying that action cameras are not as practical as they thought. One user mentioned, "It's impossible to achieve a seamless first-person perspective wearing. Each method has its own problems. For example, the chest strap affects breathing a lot and can't be used during sports. Wearing it on the head or around the neck is even more uncomfortable... It's not as practical as a mobile phone, and the first-person perspective is not that great." This note has received more than 500 likes, and many voices in the comment section pointed out other problems. Some users even admitted, "In fact, ordinary people don't really need action cameras. There's nothing worth recording."

Image source: Xiaohongshu

The feelings mentioned by the above users are not an exception. Another consumer who bought an Insta360 also pointed out, "I've really tried many ways to fix the camera, but using more mounts doesn't meet the needs of daily shooting. Wearing a mount on the head with a hat makes me, an introvert, very embarrassed."

If the wearing method of action cameras has already discouraged many introverts, then the shooting experience of the once-popular DJI Pocket series doesn't seem as convenient and user-friendly as expected for ordinary users.

On social platforms, there have been many "disenchantment posts" about the DJI Pocket series. One user said bluntly, "I suggest that people without patience don't buy... Pocket 3 is very convenient for shooting and takes beautiful photos, but exporting the photos is too troublesome. Everyone is really tight-lipped about this."

In fact, if you search for "Pocket 3 export" on social platforms, you can see a lot of "complaints": "The export process can drive people crazy. I especially want to complain about the Mimo software. Transferring photos via Bluetooth is as slow as a snail. Who can understand that it crashed 10 times in an hour when transferring 30 videos?" "DJI's built-in beauty filter can only be imported into the mobile phone via Bluetooth. If you transfer via USB cable, although the speed is fast, you can only download the original video." The likes of these posts reach tens of thousands, and many users in the comment section said, "I totally agree" "You're speaking right out of my mouth"...

In addition to the photo export problem, many users have also mentioned the product quality issues of these cameras on consumer complaint platforms. On the Heimaotousu platform, a consumer filed a complaint: I bought a camera from the Insta360 Taobao flagship store in September 2025. On September 13, I contacted the merchant's customer service and reported the problem of a delay in the display screen of the expansion cabin. The merchant apologized and said that this situation needed to be improved through subsequent firmware upgrades. Until recently, I found that this problem still exists significantly.

Another consumer filed a complaint in December 2025, saying that "I bought an 'Insta360 Ace Pro 2 Dual Battery Edition' action camera on November 26, 2025." But after receiving the goods, during normal use, the user found that "the camera cannot shoot long - time videos. There are problems such as abnormal overheating of the body, automatic shutdown, and even freezing. And the automatic shutdown causes the loss of the recorded video data, and the core function of the product cannot be guaranteed at all."

With the increasing number of "avoidance" and "disenchantment" posts, consumers are becoming more rational. Many young people who were interested in action cameras have given rise to another business - the rental business of action cameras and pocket cameras.

Zinc Scale noticed that on social platforms such as Xiaohongshu, second - hand trading platforms such as Xianyu, and Alipay, there are rental merchants for DJI and Insta360 products, with prices as low as "9.9 yuan for 3 days." "I originally wanted to buy one, but a sister suggested I rent one first."

Some netizens said, "For ordinary people, renting is much more cost - effective than buying. Rent one occasionally when traveling, and you don't have to worry about it gathering dust at home."

Looking back ten years ago, an outdoor enthusiast pointed out on "ZOL": For many users, buying a sports camera is just a momentary novelty and impulse consumption. That's why the consumer market for sports cameras is in an awkward situation now. On the one hand, consumers are full of curiosity about such products, so the market seems vibrant; but on the other hand, consumers lack the possibility of long - term use or product replacement, so it often becomes a one - time deal.

Ten years later, now DJI and Insta360 seem to face a similar question: How can their products truly integrate into daily life from being "novelty toys" and become irreplaceable creative tools? In the future, perhaps only by deeply understanding the real recording needs of ordinary people and making breakthroughs in usability, ecological integration, and scenario innovation can the "cinematic feel" under the lens go beyond a temporary trend.

This article is from the WeChat official account “Zinc Scale” (ID: znkedu). Author: Li Xuanqi. Republished by 36Kr with permission.