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New DJI Mini 3 drone leaks anticipate December 9 launch

In the mere two days since the last post on the topic, online leakers have provided even more images and additional specs of DJI’s Mini 3 – including a shot of the officially inexistent (or at least assiduously unacknowledged) drone on sale in a US store. Given their success in fleshing the product out over the past few weeks, it’s perhaps only logical one sleuth has now also beaten DJI to teasing a likely launch date: December 9.

As has been the case since rumors first arose about DJI preparing an expected step-down version of its Mini 3 Pro drone, this weekend @DronesDeal provided new evidence of the craft nearing release with photos and official company documents. 

ReadNew DJI Mini 3 leaks offer product clues, pricing confusion [Update] 

Among those is a shot of a Fly More Combo package with an RC N1, and a product recap printed in distinctive DJI font describing it as “less than 259 g,” and offering “38-min Flight Time,” 4K HDR | True Vertical Shooting,” “Intelligent Features: Quickshots | Panorama,”  “38kph (Level 5) Wind Resistance,” and “10 km Video Transmission.”

Much of that had been contained in previous leaks of the craft, but was accentuated a day later by accomplished DJI stalker @OsitaLV offering a December 9 release date provided by a retailer source.

That tweet followed up – and included – an image uploaded earlier by @ShaneScordamag1 after he happened upon and photographed several boxes of the Mini 3 drone for sale in a New Jersey Best Buy – a Fly More Combo DJI RC bundle going for $859. 

Not astonishingly for a craft the manufacturer may not reveal for at least another week, @ShaneScordamag1 posted a follow-up tweet reporting the product had been pulled from shelves after his retail scoop. Luckily for both Best Buy and DJI, absolutely nobody noticed the false start.

That $859 price – if reflective of the range consumers will see once the drone is officially rolled out – would list the DJI Mini 3 Fly More Drone Combo with DJI RC package roughly where information leaker @IgorBogdanov positioned it in a Friday tweet. It would also seem to indicate buyers may eventually see an aircraft-only option for around $500, with top-end bundles going for what Bogdanov reports will be about $1,100.

ReadDJI launches Mavic 3 Classic: Mavic 3 chops, softer wallet bite 

That, as DroneDJ noted Friday, may well disappoint consumers who expectied steeper discounts on what in theory was supposed to be a more affordable option to the Mini 3 Pro. That logic had been behind DJI’s release of the Mavic 3 Classic as a step-down version of the top-of-the-line photography Mavic 3, and Mini SE  to the Mini 2

DJI currently sells the Mini 3 Pro with RC-N1 for $759 – $909 with the DJI RC, and $699 for the drone alone – and the Mini 2 at $499; $599 as a Fly More Combo. That leaves a small but perceptible window in which a cheaper Mini 3 might be placed.

Instead, leaked prices for the Mini 3 seem to position it as a largely over-lapping product and quasi-competitor to the original – offering modest savings from the Pro version in exchange for less than half the transmission distance, no Active Shot, and (visual evidence on the drone suggests) no obstacle avoidance tech. 

ReadLeaked DJI Mini 3 images suggest nearing launch of a step-down version of the Pro drone 

Yet to be seen is whether that pricing-to-tech balance – if confirmed – will suffice to lure buyers who know they can get the full features of the Mini 3 Pro for not all that much more money.

Also in question is whether hold-outs of that drone won’t instead opt for one of the existing and less expensive models in DJI’s increasingly overly crowded mid-range drone stable – a bustling selection that already has some online observers predicting an approaching demise of the Mini 2.

Photo: Shane Scordamaglia

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Avatar for Bruce Crumley Bruce Crumley

Bruce Crumley is journalist and writer who has worked for Fortune, Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, The Guardian, AFP, and was Paris correspondent and bureau chief for Time magazine specializing in political and terrorism reporting. He splits his time between Paris and Biarritz, and is the author of novel Maika‘i Stink Eye.