DJI Air 3 gets likely launch date – here's how it could compare to other drones
After weeks of mounting DJI Air 3 rumors, the drone giant has announced the dates for a major product launch – with further leaks virtually confirming that it'll be for the long-awaited mid-range drone.
The new teaser reveals that DJI's 'Double Up' event will take place on July 25 at 9am EST / 2pm BST / 11pm AEST. There’s very little official information in the teaser trailer, which shows a ten-second clip of a man on top of a mountain with a drone controller in his hands before the camera pans back revealing two viewpoints, one on top of the other.
But a clue in the trailer, plus several new leaks including one that reveals a possible specs comparison with other DJI drones, lead us to believe DJI will be unveiling the new, mid-range Air 3 drone.
The main clue in the trailer's name is that the Air 3 will likely have two lenses, compared to the single one on the current DJI Air 2S. German tech news site WinFuture posted possible marketing images of the Air 3 back in late June showing a dual-lens camera mounted on a gimbal. And more recently, we've seen some bigger leaks from the reliable @Quadro_News on Twitter (below).
??DJI Air 3 promotional material, English language. Part 4 #dji #djiair3 Adjusted the table. Pointed out the error. Thanks to the subscribers. pic.twitter.com/ffHOVgO1f8July 18, 2023
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According to the apparently leaked promo material above, the Air 3 will slot in between the DJI Mini 3 Pro (its premium small drone) and DJI Mavic 3 (its larger pro-friendly model).
The main improvements from the current DJI Air 2S appear to be the extra camera (a 70mm medium telephoto), a larger sensor on the main camera (1/1.3-inch CMOS, rather than 1-inch), improved obstacle avoidance, a longer battery life (46 minutes per charge, up from 31 minutes) a longer maximum range. But we'll have to wait until the full launch on July 25 to see if that's actually the case.
The potential arrival of dual-lens camera system is exciting news as we were already fans of the image quality of the DJI Air 2S for both stills and video. On the Air 2S, the latter can be done up to 5.4K resolution at 30fps, though that appears to have dropped to a maximum of 4K/100fps on the Air 3.
Conflicting prices
The main question remains the DJI Air 3's pricing. @Quadro_News again shared "approximate prices" for the DJI Air 3’s accessory bundles on Twitter back in late June.
According to the leak, the bundles will range from around $1,234 (roughly ￡969 / AU$1,845) to $1,295 (roughly ￡1,113 / AU$2,119). However, the WinFuture leak from earlier conflicts with Quadro_News by claiming a price range from about $1,563 (￡1199 / €1389) to $1,796 (￡1379 / €1597).
Regardless of what the final number will be, the high price point leads us to believe the Air 3 will have a high-quality dual-camera setup. And because it's DJI's mid-range offering, the pricing will likely sit in between the Mini 3 Pro and Mavic 3.
Exactly where is something we're looking forward to finding out on July 25. We just hope DJI has read our wishlist and is putting everything we want in the drone.
