Consumer market for drones slows down

Jagerbomb52 · Mar 26, 2019

This is the very reason Parrot and other companies are shifting to the commercial side of UAV's. Even the big bully cannot sell as many as they used to.

DJI shifts focus to agriculture as consumer drone sales slow

As the consumer market for drones slows down, the Chinese drone maker, DJI shifted its focus to agriculture drone applications.

dronedj.com

FranoKaaf · Mar 26, 2019

Rather agree with this trend.
The generalized constraints of the rules of use of drones (in progress or to come here and there) is probably the reason...

pmh1nic · Mar 26, 2019

FranoKaaf said:
Rather agree with this trend.
The generalized constraints of the rules of use of drones (in progress or to come here and there) is probably the reason...

While there is still a lot of marketing of drones as toys the general public is increasingly becoming aware (new laws, regulations and media reporting) that restrictions exist on where and when you can fly. That may be one reason for the damping down of interest.

Krusty Geeza · Mar 26, 2019

I suspect the aforementioned reason in conjunction with saturation of the market. DJI smothered the consumer & professional market early on, it's hard, really hard for any other companies to make inroads now as a result.

There are only so many people wanting to seriously use a drone with a camera for photography & video capture purposes. The greater majority are now probably more interested in FPV racing through a forest, cause that looks cool on YouTube!

The only references I can find anywhere to DJI's sales date back to 2017, where they displayed a sudden drop-off of sales. I would presume that continued through 2018 & they don't want to show how severe it has been.

Like with digital camera's, drones are a serious investment for most & as a consequence they hold on to them for as long as they can. There will always be the few that update as soon as the latest & greatest is released. But I feel this is also a large factor in the slowdown of drone sales for recreation over the last few years.

Thanev · Mar 28, 2019

I have enjoyed my Anafi as another tool for my photography.
As a landscape photographer I enjoy the feature set,with enough background knowledge in digital photography to deal with the shortcomings of a small sensor.I realized getting a drone with a camera would not allow me to shoot in the Parks in Canada (no fly zone)and certain other locations as well,but should still expand my abilities by a small margin .
The beauty of aircraft such as the Anafi lies in the ability of nearly everyone can fly and get good results.The problem with drones such as the Anafi is that nearly everyone can fly them,without training or knowledge of rules,or at times,common sense.
I think the niche of available venues a person can legally shoot will gradually diminish over time,and commercial will be the only market left in which a profit can be made by the manufacturers.
I am grateful I had the experience,as it will be another story I can pass on to the grandkids.

Wezsh0T · Apr 16, 2019

Thanev said:
I have enjoyed my Anafi as another tool for my photography.
As a landscape photographer I enjoy the feature set,with enough background knowledge in digital photography to deal with the shortcomings of a small sensor.I realized getting a drone with a camera would not allow me to shoot in the Parks in Canada (no fly zone)and certain other locations as well,but should still expand my abilities by a small margin .
The beauty of aircraft such as the Anafi lies in the ability of nearly everyone can fly and get good results.The problem with drones such as the Anafi is that nearly everyone can fly them,without training or knowledge of rules,or at times,common sense.
I think the niche of available venues a person can legally shoot will gradually diminish over time,and commercial will be the only market left in which a profit can be made by the manufacturers.
I am grateful I had the experience,as it will be another story I can pass on to the grandkids.

In this respect, I think the Anafi has a big advantage over other capable drones. It's so small and quiet that most people just think of it as "cute". The DJI drones are either too loud or too big.