What can we expect from DJI at CES 2018?

The big question that is on everybody’s mind is whether DJI will announce any new drone at the CES 2018 event in Las Vegas?

In the past, DJI announced new products at the Consumer Electronics Show. For instance, in 2015, they announced the Osmo and other gimbals, in 2016, the Phantom 3 4K and the Inspire 1 Pro Black Edition, and in 2017, the Osmo Silver, a limited Phantom 4 Chinese New Year Edition and the CrystalSky Monitor.

DJI RELEASE DATES

To get a better idea of what we may expect, let’s take a look at the past release dates of DJI’s consumer drones and gimbals.

The DJI Phantom series release dates:

• The Phantom 1, originally known as the Phantom, was released in January 2013.
• The DJI Phantom 2 was released in December 2013.
• The DJI Phantom 3 was released in April 2015.
• The DJI Phantom 4 was released in March 2016.
• The DJI Phantom 4 Pro was released in November 2016.

The DJI Mavic series release dates:

• The DJI Mavic Pro was released in October 2016.
• The DJI Mavic Pro Platinum Edition was released in August 2017.
• The DJI Mavic Pro Alpine White was released in November 2017.

The DJI Spark release date:

• The DJI Spark was released in May 2017.

Based on the drone release dates, it seems that the Phantom is the most likely drone for a refresh since it was released over a year ago. However, DJI hasn’t released a Phantom model at this time of year since the original Phantom so it is pretty unlikely that we’d see the Phantom 5 now.

The DJI Osmo release dates:

• The DJI Osmo was released October 2015.
• The DJI Osmo+ (aka with 3x zoom) was released August 2016.
• The DJI Osmo Mobile was released September 2016.

Looking at the Osmo release dates, the original Osmo stands out as being well over a year old and never seeing a real refresh. During this same time, DJI brought to market several pro cameras (X5, X5s, X7), upgraded the Phantom line camera to a 1-inch sensor, and released the X4s for the Inspire 2 which sports a 1-inch sensor as well. With this in mind, it wouldn’t seem too far fetched to think DJI might be releasing a new Osmo. This new model would utilize DJI’s new 1-inch camera design of the Phantom 4 Pro and X4s as well as possibly bringing other updates like longer battery life and better WiFi connection.

There is also the possibility that DJI only announces some minor product updates and saves all the bigger announcements for their own separate event in March or April. Either way, with less than a week until CES 2018 kicks off in Vegas we won’t have to wait long to find out.