Four short months after introducing the truly palm-size Neo, DJI is back with another pint-sized consumer drone. The Flip continues the drone giant’s interest in foldable form factors, with a quartet of propeller guards that essentially stack up, for maximum portability.
The new Flip continues to blur the lines in DJI’s existing consumer portfolio, combining the “simplicity of the DJI Neo with the stunning photo capabilities of the DJI Mini,” per the company. At $439, the drone is a lot closer to the Mini 3 ($419) than the Neo ($199).
It’s clear the company is gunning for photographers/videographers looking to streamline their outdoor shooting. The new drone is capable of shooting in 4K at 60 frames per second, as well as 100fps slow motion video. As for stills, the camera can capture 48-megapixel shots with up to 4x zoom.
At 249 grams, the Flip weighs the same as the Mavic Mini, but is notably heftier than the Neo’s 135 grams. With more weight, however, comes a significantly better battery life. The Flip has a listed 31 minutes on a charge to the Neo’s 18. That’s a significant difference for people shooting video.
The Flip also sports automatic braking to avoid high-altitude collisions, as well as improvements to charging and data speeds. DJI equates a new Local Data Mode to a smartphone’s airplane mode, allowing the system to disconnect from the internet while in flight.
The Flip starts shipping Tuesday in the U.S. What the next four years look like for the company’s ability to continue selling stateside, however, is anyone’s guess.
