Leaked video apparently shows new DJI FPV drone in flight

A video that appears to show the new DJI FPV drone in flight has surfaced on Chinese social media. It’s not super clear, but it does appear to show DJI’s new FPV drone being flown.

We’ve been watching this story like a hawk. And, based on leaked images, have been able to pull together a fair bit of information so far. But, as with any product getting close to release, the leaks keep on coming. And now, video has surfaced on Chinese social media. It reveals a new shot of the DJI controller we’d seen in an earlier photo, plus video that shows an FPV drone in flight.

That video isn’t super high-res, and the drone is somewhat distant. But the shape matches other images we’ve seen in the past.

Video of DJI FPV drone

Here you go:

Why we think this is the DJI FPV drone

Lots of fakes can surface at times like these, and we’re always aware that someone could be faking a video or a new product image. But there are a couple of things about this that give us confidence it’s legit. For starters, there’s a fresh image of the new DJI FPV controller. We’ve seen the same controller earlier. And now, here it is again. You can also see some stickers on the product, which appear to contain a list. This is normal for DJI products being tested; it’s a checklist for the person doing the flying to ensure that all functions are working:

Seeing a new image of the controller obviously gives this video some immediate street cred. It’s pretty unlikely that someone wanting to play a hoax would have access to what is clearly a legit image of the unreleased product. Compare here to the earlier image we’ve seen:

The shape of the FPV drone

Yeah, we hear you. We wish there was more detail in this video as well. But we can only work with what we’ve got, and it seems pretty clear to us that the shape of the drone in the video roughly matches the unusual and somewhat bulky shape we’ve seen before:

When will DJI release its FPV drone?

Good question. And man, we wish we had the answer. Given that we’ve seen evidence that DJI has dispatched influencers to Indonesia with the new gear, we can speculate the release is close. The same goes for those checklists on those stickers. That doesn’t happen until kind of the final phase before a product goes out.

However, it’s getting maybe a little too close to Christmas for a new product release. Plus, all of the leaks we’ve seen so far appear to have come from Southeast Asia. There’s been nothing from the Big Box retailers, the way we saw with the Mini 2. And while we’ve read a couple of reports indicating that stores have received inventory, we don’t think that has happened yet. Once someone leaks a photo from the inventory of a Best Buy, we’ll rethink that.

But until then? We’ll just have to — as an old Chinese saying goes — Seek Truth From Facts.