Neil Hughes
The majority of people who buy a DJI product are already invested in the Apple ecosystem, and use Apple devices to control, shoot and edit aerial footage from DJI drones, making the new partnership between the two companies a natural fit.
At a presentation in New York City this week, DJI unveiled its new Phantom 4 drone featuring autopilot, auto-follow, and obstacle avoidance. In every demonstration, both live and on video, the Phantom 4 was shown being used in tandem with Apple gear, whether an iPhone or iPad.
DJI also revealed that the Phantom 4 will be available exclusively at launch through Apple's retail stores and its own storefront, before expanding to other third-party resellers. The partnership will see the new Phantom 4 featured prominently at "feature bay" displays in Apple Stores across the globe.
Michael Perry, director strategic partnerships at DJI, explained that most of DJI's customers are already Apple product users. Widely considered to be the leader in the "prosumer" drone market, DJI's exclusive arrangement with Apple is representative of how the Chinese company hopes to position its brand and grow marketshare.
Perry also cited Apple's ecosystem of devices that integrate with and supplement DJI's offerings. Beyond the iPhone and iPad — which allow for controlling and viewing live footage from the Phantom series — he also noted that Apple apps like Final Cut Pro and even iMovie are the go-to editing choices for many DJI customers.
Priced at $1,399, the Phantom 4 is available for preorder now via Apple or direct from DJI. It will begin shipping to customers on March 15.
The device relies heavily on the official DJI Go app for iPhone and iPad. With it, users will be able to use their fingertips to select a person, object or otherwise to track, and the Phantom 4 will take to the skies and follow that subject while intelligently avoiding obstacles.
Christine McKee
Malcolm Owen
Amber Neely
Andrew O'Hara
2 Comments
A win-win for both parties.
Regarding talk of terrorists in the comments, as someone pointed out these things cannot carry any real payload. Many of the cheaper ones cannot even carry a real Gopro camera and need special lightweight cameras instead. In contrast you can buy a model plane with a wingspan of 5 ft... As for DJI and their Phantom range, I've just bought one and regret it already. I don't even have it yet, it will be delivered tomorrow, but looking at the various forums it seems owners are very unhappy. They complain of terrible customer service for drones that develop stress cracks around the motors - even the remote controllers break in the user's hand. For example the famous "Return to home button" tends to break off and disappear inside the remote! Rather than issuing a recall the company seems to ignore the issue until they get a complaint and then tell the customer "Send it back to China and we'll take a look". I don't know the exact price but I've read some saying the shipping cost was more than half the price of the drone itself, as because they ignore the problems and won't accept it's a design fault, they charge many for "accident repairs" which have never been crashed. When they work they're amazing, that's why I've paid for one, but shoddy materials, unwillingness to acknowledge design faults, high prices and "Send it back to China" customer service make me wish I'd ignored the fanboys and bought a different brand.