DJI has set a fairly blistering pace of new drone releases in 2023, but according to an online leaker racking up an increasing number of discoveries about developing products, the aerial parade isn’t over yet – with a new Air 3 craft said to be on the way soon.
This week the @Quadro_News Twitter feed made a quick switch from dishing details about the new Matrice 350 RTK that DJI released last week – though only after the leaker behind it, Igor Bogdanov, had previously published most of the salient information about the new flagship drone – with new indicators that a Mavic Air 3 is now in the works.
Read: Leaker posts product info on Matrice 350 RTK ahead of DJI release
The online sleuth – who earlier this year broke into the elite leaker club by sharing development information later confirmed by rollouts – initially alerted drone fans to a looming Air 3 release with what he noted were doubtless faked images of the craft. Yet accompanying those fabricated photos was data Bogdanov offered up on what he said were yet to be substantiated details about the rumored UAV.
“According to unconfirmed reports, the DJI Air 3 is expected to be released in late June or early July 2023 – 1-inch sensor -3x 1/1.3-inch or 7x 1/2-inch telephoto lens, – add 4g -30 m. flight time,” Bogdanov tweeted, noting circulation of the “most likely” faked images might be a sign DJI officials have started to clamp down on in-house product development documents leakers have been recently obtaining in droves. “Someone has tightened the control.”
The following day, Bodanov posted a veritable photo of what looks to be a DJI drone undergoing testing, with another unofficial tip on what the cost of an upcoming Air 3 might be.
“Estimated price 7,500 yuan ($1,063.81)” he wrote before adding his now trademark tweet of DJI’s nose in having apparently scooped the company’s eventual drone unveiling. “Continuing to work on DJI’s behalf to drum up public interest in the forthcoming fiery new Air 3.”
The increasingly large thorn in DJI’s side went further a couple hours later with a photo of strewn drone batteries that might include one for a new Air 3 (“Everything is so sloppy,” he joshed).
He then upped the ante with another, somewhat blurry shot of the developmental DJI product placed on paving stones, with the front of the drone mostly visible toward the left-side frame. “Note that the Air 3 drone’s camera is large,” he said.
As always, it’s never certain leaked information will translate into the actual UAVs those unofficial tips seem to suggest.
Meanwhile there are peripheral reasons to suspect DJI may indeed be moving to add a new Air 3 to its growing list of 2023 drone releases.
Read: DJI releases Matrice 350, a long-awaited upgrade to the company’s enterprise lineup
For starters, the original Air 2 was rolled out way back in 2020. Improvements added with the upgrading to the Air 2S about a year later, meanwhile, having largely been overtaken by tech advancements since then – many of which are now standard in other subsequently marketed DJI drones.
The June or July release date would also more or less jibe with the speculative DJI product introduction calendar offered up in January by another reliable leaker, DealsDrone, which forecast a May launch of a new Air 3.
May 24 Update
Leaks (and leakers) apparently love company, which my be why several hours after this post went live, the aforementioned DealsDrone tweeted what appears to be the short video from which Bogdanov’s front-end photos of the purported test version Air 3 test were captured.
DealsDrone’s accompanying text is brief, but identifies the trial craft as DJI’s rumored release, before allowing the (moving) pictures to speak thousands of words.
DJI Air 3 in testing. video from Wechat pic.twitter.com/GWrQ5BEdsy
— 航拍世家 打手 (@DealsDrone) May 24, 2023
Only time, and DJI, will tell whether this week’s rumors pan out into a new Air 3 drone in coming weeks – unless Bogdanov manages to flesh out the craft with additional leaks first.
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