In the smart imaging device market, Insta360 and DJI once reigned supreme in their respective niches.

Insta360 has long held sway over the panoramic camera sector, with its global market share at one point soaring above 80%. Meanwhile, DJI commands the consumer drone market, boasting over 70% of the global share with few true competitors. Yet, a one-sided dominance is not a viable long-term strategy, and a commercial battle of mutual market encroachment is now unfolding.

Six years ago, DJI took the lead in attempting a crossover by launching its Osmo Action action camera. This July, Insta360 announced the release of the world's first panoramic drone, the 'Antigravity,' officially stepping into the drone market that DJI has dominated for years.

DJI responded swiftly to Insta360's crossover move. Just three days later, it unveiled its first panoramic camera, the Osmo 360, priced at 2999 yuan—800 yuan cheaper than Insta360's flagship X5 model—effectively piercing through Insta360's price floor. Subsequently, Insta360 had to slash the price of its panoramic drone by 500 yuan.

The Double 11 shopping festival escalated the price war to new heights. DJI's gimbal cameras, the Pocket 3 and Action 4, saw price reductions of up to 900 yuan and 1129 yuan, respectively, triggering a wave of consumer demands for refunds due to price differences. The hashtag "DJI's price cut sparks consumer refund requests" even trended on Weibo, amassing 27,000 discussions.

However, this did not deter Insta360 from following suit with price cuts. That same month, it launched its new panoramic camera, the Insta360 X4 Air, at 2399 yuan—600 yuan cheaper than DJI's Osmo 360—intensifying the competition between the two rivals.

On December 4th, Insta360 released the world's first 8K panoramic drone, the Antigravity A1. Featuring a 249-gram body, 39-minute battery life, and immersive VR control, it pressed the "accelerator" on this crossover competition.

From head-to-head product launches to covert price wars, what survival anxieties and growth dilemmas lie behind this crossover commercial battle?

01 Inevitable Breakthrough Amid Growth Ceilings

The crossover confrontation between Insta360 and DJI is not a coincidental move but a strategic response to finding new growth paths after their core businesses hit ceilings.

For Insta360, panoramic cameras are its bread and butter. According to Frost & Sullivan data, in the third quarter of 2025, Insta360 held an 85.8% share of the global market and nearly 80% of the domestic market, demonstrating a clear monopolistic advantage in its segment.

However, the panoramic camera industry itself has limited scale. Previous forecasts by China Report Hall predicted that the global market for panoramic cameras would reach 6.61 billion yuan in 2025. Even if Insta360's revenue for the first three quarters reached 6.61 billion yuan, it would still struggle to surpass 10 billion yuan in annual revenue.

Meanwhile, Insta360 found itself in a situation of increasing revenue but stagnant profits. Financial reports showed that in the third quarter of 2025, Insta360's revenue was 2.94 billion yuan, a 92.64% year-on-year increase, but its net profit attributable to shareholders was 272 million yuan, a 15.90% year-on-year decrease.

On the other hand, DJI also faces the "headache" of growth saturation.

As the global leader in consumer drones, DJI has long held over 70% of the market share. In 2024, its revenue exceeded 80 billion yuan, with a net profit of 12 billion yuan, appearing to be thriving. However, the pressure from slowing industry growth cannot be ignored.

According to data from Zhongyan Puhua Industry Research Institute, the growth rate of the domestic consumer drone market in 2024 was 18%, far lower than the 45% in 2020, indicating market saturation.

The decline in user evaluations of its product innovation cannot be overlooked either. Several products have been criticized for "incremental updates" lacking breakthrough upgrades. The recent incident of a "drone flying illegally to an altitude of 8,000 meters" exposed regulatory blind spots in drones and plunged DJI into public controversy.

The high degree of commonality in core underlying technologies—such as image processing, stabilization algorithms, and sensor technologies—between panoramic cameras and drones significantly lowers the research and development barriers and costs for both sides to cross over.

02 Clash of Scale Advantage and Innovation Capability

Despite the fierce competition between Insta360 and DJI, a gap in their strengths has existed from the outset, directly influencing their strategic choices and resilience.

DJI's core strength lies in its accumulated scale effect and control over the entire industrial chain, as evidenced by the aforementioned revenue and profit data. DJI's revenue of 5.574 billion yuan and net profit of 995 million yuan for the same period are more than ten times those of Insta360. This is precisely why DJI can launch products at prices 800 yuan lower than Insta360's flagship models.

However, DJI's scale advantage comes with a significant weakness in core panoramic imaging technologies.

Long-term focus on the drone sector has allowed DJI to accumulate deep expertise in hardware aspects such as flight control, obstacle avoidance, and image transmission. However, it lacks sufficient accumulation in software areas crucial for panoramic cameras, such as image stitching algorithms and AI-driven editing optimization.

Unlike DJI, Insta360 has chosen an innovation-driven differentiation strategy, with its competitiveness centered on software algorithms and scenario innovation.

As the pioneer in the panoramic camera sector, Insta360 has accumulated a wealth of core patents over a decade. Its FlowState stabilization algorithm, invisible selfie stick algorithm, and AI auto-editing technology are all industry-leading, enabling real-time seamless stitching of 8K panoramic videos and supporting users in freely cropping any perspective during post-production.

This software advantage extends to the drone sector as well. The "fly first, frame later" mode of the Antigravity A1 drone achieves a "completely invisible" visual effect of the drone body in the footage through AI invisible stitching algorithms, precisely meeting the needs of professional creators.

However, Insta360's innovation advantage comes with unavoidable weaknesses and cost pressures.

After the launch of the Antigravity A1, priced above 5,000 yuan, despite claiming 8K high-definition quality, the actual output resolution is only 1080P, while DJI's equivalent products are priced between 1,000-3,000 yuan.

The high price does not deliver a corresponding product experience. Due to the lack of long-term accumulation in drone hardware R&D, Insta360's drone products exhibit significant gaps in core functionalities compared to DJI's offerings. Users have reported issues such as excessive noise in night photography and insufficient dynamic range.

To address these weaknesses and counter price shocks, Insta360 has had to increase its R&D investment. In the third quarter of 2025, its R&D expenditure reached 524 million yuan, with a total of 1.085 billion yuan in the first three quarters—a 127.02% year-on-year increase, far exceeding the level of the entire year in 2024. This substantial investment has directly pressured Insta360's profitability.

This disparity in strengths determines the competitive strategies of both sides: DJI leverages its scale advantage to engage in a "price war," trading lower prices for market share, while Insta360 relies on innovation and category breakthroughs to seek opportunities through differentiation.

03 The Competitive Logic Behind Data Disputes

In the third quarter of 2025, discrepancies in data from two authoritative research reports brought the market share dispute between Insta360 and DJI to the forefront.

A report by Meritco Group showed that in the global panoramic camera market (based on revenue) in the third quarter of 2025, Insta360's market share plummeted from the previous 85%-92% to 49%, while DJI closely followed with a 43% share, nearly creating a "duopoly." However, a concurrent report by Frost & Sullivan presented a different picture, with Insta360 still holding a high global market share of 75% and DJI only 17.1%. Even in the Chinese market, DJI's share was merely 37.1%.

The core reason for the data discrepancy lies in different statistical approaches. Meritco Group's statistics cover GMV from e-commerce platforms, sales volumes from third-party unofficial channels, and even include data from the secondary market. DJI's rapid penetration in unofficial channels through its low-price strategy was fully incorporated, amplifying its market share advantage. In contrast, Frost & Sullivan focuses on actual sales volumes at retail terminals and only counts "core panoramic camera products," excluding peripheral categories like thumb cameras, thus preserving Insta360's traditional advantage in core product lines.

The essence of the data dispute reflects the clash of two competitive logics: DJI's "low price for market share" strategy quickly attracts price-sensitive users, and Meritco Group's data reflects the short-term effectiveness of this scale-driven logic. Meanwhile, Insta360 adheres to a "technology for premium" brand logic, and Frost & Sullivan's data aligns more closely with this brand-driven approach.

Before the third quarter of 2025, Insta360 had long maintained a market share of over 80% in the panoramic camera market, with virtually no rivals. Established players like GoPro and Ricoh have gradually been marginalized in this competition. Frost & Sullivan data shows that GoPro's global market share in the third quarter of 2025 was less than 2%, further concentrating industry resources toward the leading players.

Despite the stark differences in the conclusions of the two reports, an industry consensus has emerged: the competition between DJI and Insta360 has completely shattered the "monopoly" landscape, transitioning the global market from a "monopoly" to a "duopoly" phase.

04 The Symbiotic Path of the Industry

The crossover commercial battle between Insta360 and DJI is not a zero-sum game of "winner takes all" but a benign "catalyst" driving the development of the smart imaging industry. It accelerates technological iteration while bringing new growth vitality to the market, ultimately benefiting consumers.

From a technological perspective, the competition forces both sides to accelerate innovation and drive rapid technological iteration. At the market level, this commercial battle has also expanded the smart imaging device industry. For consumers, the direct benefit of this commercial battle is a richer array of choices and more favorable prices.

There is no absolute winner in this commercial battle. Insta360 and DJI still need to undergo long-term market testing. Insta360 must prove the sustainability of the new product category of panoramic drones while addressing its hardware technology weaknesses. DJI, on the other hand, must enhance the software experience of panoramic imaging while maintaining its low-price advantage to avoid falling into the "low price, low quality" trap.

In the future, the competition between the two sides will shift from "single-product confrontation" to "ecosystem competition." Whoever can better balance technology, cost, and user needs will take the initiative in the long-term competition.