Insta360

Insta360 teases new 360° product we think is a drone camera

Scott Simmie | May 21 2022 - 6:00 am PT

Insta360 has just released a teaser for a new product. And, to say the least, it has us intrigued.

If you’re not familiar with Insta360, you probably should be. The Shenzhen-based company specialises in 360° cameras for consumers, and has built a solid reputation for both its hardware and software. Occasionally, it has dabbled into the world of drones. And now, it looks like something pretty cool is on the way.

An Insta360 drone camera?

Well, that’s what we would guess, based on this mini-teaser. Entitled “Elevate Your Creativity,” the 19-second video does a great job of teasing. And the Inception-like effects? Pretty mind-blowing. Have a look for yourself:

What is it?

Well, we don’t know for certain. But it’s pretty obvious this is some 360° footage shot by a drone, and then processed with some pretty slick editing software.

Could it be an actual drone? We doubt it. Building drones is hard (just ask GoPro), and Insta360 is a camera maker. So that leaves us to theorise that it’s a 360 camera built to work with a drone.

The thing is, to get this kind of 360 footage you’d need a camera with lenses on the top and bottom of the drone in order to make the machine itself disappear. So it’s either a new type of camera that will work with a consumer drone, or else it’s a collaboration with a company like BetaFPV. We’ve seen that in the past, where BetaFPV created a drone body designed to work with Insta’s ONE R camera.

In that case, however, BetaFPV was the one dropping the teasers, not Insta360.

So, what is this?

Our best guess (and we’ve become pretty good at predictions over time), is that this is a camera system built for some form of popular consumer drone. What it looks like – and which drone it’s built for – we can’t say.

But we can say that Insta360 has made a 360° camera built to work with the original Mavic Pro. It’s called the ONE R Aerial Add On, and looks like this: