After keeping silent in the media for 10 years, Wang Tao of DJI was "forced" to speak up by Insta360.

On April 9th, Beijing time, Wang Tao, the founder of DJI, which has been one of the innovation calling cards and hardware benchmarks in Shenzhen over the past 20 years, said in a media interview that "the world is incredibly stupid" (actually, the title of that article used "stupid" instead of "foolish"). After keeping silent for 10 years, he finally accepted a media interview for the first time, and it was a in - depth interview that lasted intermittently for 19 hours.

What Wang Tao talked about is of course important, but the most important thing is the action of "coming out". You can go to "Latepost" to read the specific content.

Here, we mainly want to talk about Wang Tao's action of "coming out".

Since Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, made company founders a highlight in product marketing, in most 2C companies around the world, whether in the mobile phone, computer, or automobile industries, it has become a standard practice for founders or CEOs to come out for marketing.

Wang Tao, who had hidden himself for 10 years, spoke up again because of a company that has been established for 11 years - Insta360 (688775.SH).

Hidden for 10 Years, Facing the Challenger Insta360

There was a time when Wang Tao also took the stage to launch products.

In 2016, Wang Tao took the stage three times to launch new products. According to Doubao AI search,

In March 2016, Wang Tao fully explained the product concept and technical core of the Phantom 4 at the New York press conference;

In September, also in New York, Wang Tao appeared to launch the Mavic Pro, leaving the slogan "Let users unleash their creativity anytime, anywhere";

In November, in Los Angeles, Wang Tao took the stage to launch the professional film - making aerial photography flagship, the Inspire 2.

However, in the following 10 years, Wang Tao never came out to launch new products again.

Wang Tao hid himself for ten years because of the 2016 interview - "DJI's Wang Tao: The World is Incredibly Stupid". In the latest interview, Wang Tao added the second half of the sentence - "The world is incredibly stupid, and so am I". By the way, was it "stupid" or "foolish"? Did Wang Tao forget the details because of the long time, or did he deliberately distinguish between "stupid" and "foolish"?

Even though Wang Tao had hidden himself for 10 years and didn't take the stage to launch products in person, DJI still enjoyed the world's No. 1 market share in the category it pioneered. The most classic examples are consumer drones and the Pocket series of gimbal cameras.

DJI's products, including these two major product lines, have begun to face a strong challenge from another hardware company also from Shenzhen, Insta360, which was officially listed in 2025.

Insta360, which was listed in June 2025, once had a market value of over 150 billion in September. By the way, Insta360's latest closing price is 188.92 yuan, which is about half of its previous high of 377.77 yuan. Its latest closing market value is still 75.757 billion.

For Liu Jingkang, the 90 - post founder of Insta360, continuously challenging the market share of the industry leader DJI is necessary to expand the company's business from the initial action cameras and 360 - degree panoramic cameras to the larger - scale consumer drones and pocket gimbal cameras. This is not only the company's development need but also the story it has to tell the capital market.

This has led to a head - on confrontation in action cameras at first, and then a PK in panoramic cameras.

Furthermore, Insta360's panoramic drone, the Antigravity A1, which had been in incubation for several years, was launched in July 2025 and delivered in December, officially launching a battle to impact DJI's core business of consumer drones. The upcoming Insta360 Luna gimbal camera is directly targeting DJI's Pocket 3, which has annual sales of tens of billions (more likely the upcoming Pocket 4).

With these two products, the Antigravity A1 and the Luna, Insta360 is coming to "raid" DJI's home.

Facing the aggressive Insta360, DJI has to launch a full - scale counterattack.

DJI's Counterattack Until Wang Tao Appears

Undoubtedly, DJI needs to launch a strong counterattack. The counterattack actions include product competition, price war, exclusive agreements with malls and suppliers, and patent litigation. Even Wang Tao's coming out for an interview this time can be regarded as part of DJI's counterattack. Because Liu Jingkang, the founder of Insta360, is also a 90 - post who is good at marketing. What is extraordinary and impressive are his "money - spreading" and "posting on Moments".

In terms of product competition, in addition to action cameras and panoramic cameras, the more important product for DJI is the DJI Avata 360 panoramic drone. This is the first time DJI has lagged behind its competitors in product launch. This time, DJI is in the position of a challenger. Which one will sell better, the Antigravity A1 or the DJI Avata 360?

As for the Insta360 Luna, DJI has prepared the Pocket 4. In this market pioneered by DJI, the Luna is in the position of a challenger. At that time, whose sales volume will be better?

In terms of price war, the most obvious example is during the Double 11 period in 2025, when DJI had a big price cut. In particular, the Pocket 3, which had been in short supply since its launch, suddenly had a price cut of 900 yuan, which even triggered a wave of consumer rights - protection actions. After all, the Pocket 3 had always been synonymous with value - preservation. It is reported that the annual sales of a single product reached 20 billion. However, there has been no real competitor in the market so far. Can the Insta360 Luna be a strong competitor?

Regarding exclusive agreements with malls and suppliers, in December 2025, Liu Jingkang of Insta360 posted a complaint, saying that Insta360 was under pressure from DJI's exclusive agreements in both malls and the supply chain. DJI said that it had carried out technical cooperation with suppliers and even taught suppliers to upgrade their technologies.

In terms of patent litigation, on March 23, 2026, DJI sued Insta360 in the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court. DJI accused Insta360 of infringing 6 patents, including drone flight control, structure, imaging algorithms, and panoramic stitching. It is worth mentioning that Insta360's stock price dropped by nearly 7 points on that day.

The above actions can be carried out by the company.

However, to face Liu Jingkang, only Wang Tao can come out.

This is a confrontation between Liu Jingkang, born in 1991, and Wang Tao, born in the 1980s.

Will DJI's users still expect Wang Tao to take the stage again to talk about its products?

The war between DJI and Insta360 also reflects a kind of sadness in Shenzhen, the hardware - capital city. Two companies that have defeated "countless" opponents in their respective fields are finally having a final showdown due to market competition.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Chezhi" (ID: invehc), author: Michael Yuan, published by 36Kr with authorization.