The Chinese manufacturer DJI, which in a few years has become one of the leading companies in the UAV sector. They recently unveiled a new ultra-compact drone, the Mavic Pro Platinum, a device designed to counter GoPro’s Karma.
4K stabilized, Full HD video return, foldable, lightweight, able to avoid obstacles, 65 km/h maximum: the Mavic’s strengths are too many to list here. But DJI’s Keynote, right in the heart of Manhattan, was also the occasion to attend a new love ballet between Apple and the Chinese company.
All the demos of the Mavic were done with an iPhone as controller; with the DJI GO app installed on the iPhone. A Mavic Pro Platinum demonstrated the new Gesture function, thanks to which a simple movement of the user’s arm is enough to trigger a selfie remotely (the Mavic Pro can also output RAW shots in 12 MPx).
And just like the launch of the DJI Phantom 4, the new Mavic Pro will only be available for sale via the manufacturer’s website… and in some Apple stores. Apple store employees will even get training sessions.
This pronounced love-story with Apple probably means that DJI wants to give a premium image of its products, far from the brand image of the “Chinese firm that wants to invade the market with cheap products.”
This imaging strategy is already a success: DJI has built up a solid reputation in the sector’s heavy goods vehicles, and can even afford to sell its drones at substantial prices: 1600 dollars for the Mavic Pro and 2200 dollars for the complete pack (with additional battery and propellers, transport bag, etc.).
With this new Platinum version, it seems that DJI has set out to improve its best seller that is the Mavic Pro, it is true that this small folding drone does not have a lot of negative points except that it is not equipped with a 4K 60 FPS camera. But DJI did not decide to reinforce this characteristic of the Phantom 4 but rather decided to improve the range and noise generated by the device once again.
To reach an autonomy of more than 30 minutes, it seems that DJI has worked on a new aerodynamic strategy by changing some parameters on the engines (even if they remain the same as on the classic Mavic Pro) as well as on the propellers which have changed their style.