Ishveena Singh

93 minutes of flight time sounds like a typo. For less than $300, you’d expect to be choosing between a decent drone and enough batteries to actually enjoy flying it. Not this time.

There’s a reason DJI Neo keeps showing up on “best beginner drone” lists. It’s not because it has the biggest camera, the longest flight time, or the most advanced obstacle avoidance. It’s because Neo solves the biggest problem most people have with drones: getting started. And right now, that entry point just got a lot cheaper.

Earlier this year, Zing Drone Solutions introduced a handheld drone detection device that promised to give law enforcement officers a clearer picture of what was happening overhead. Now, that product is officially shipping, and the company is revealing more details about what sets it apart from the growing number of Remote ID tools already on the market.

When a critical incident unfolds, every minute counts. In Uruguay’s capital city of Montevideo, authorities are now turning to autonomous drones to shave precious minutes off emergency response times, and potentially give police a clearer picture of what they’re walking into before they even arrive.

If you’ve been telling yourself you’ll buy a DJI drone “later,” Prime Day may be making that argument a lot harder. The Air 3S, DJI’s sweet spot between beginner-friendly Minis and the far pricier Mavic lineup, is currently selling for under $1,000. And while that price tag is certainly appealing, many buyers are paying attention for a different reason: the growing belief that waiting indefinitely for a better deal on DJI hardware may not be the safest bet.

Most people shopping for their first drone fall into one of two camps. They either buy something ultra-cheap and quickly outgrow it, or they spend big on a premium drone and spend every flight terrified of hitting a tree. This DJI drone feels like it was designed specifically for everyone stuck in the middle.

Most people who think about buying a drone spend months talking themselves out of it. The drone they actually want feels too expensive. The cheap alternatives look questionable. And somewhere in the middle sits a long wish list of trips, sunsets, hikes, beaches, and family vacations they keep telling themselves they’ll capture “someday.” This Prime Day, DJI may have just removed the biggest excuse.

Every spring across Germany, an invisible race begins between wildlife rescuers and mowing machines. Young fawns often hide motionless in tall grass as farmers prepare to cut their fields. It’s a natural survival instinct that helps them avoid predators, but it also makes them nearly impossible to spot from the ground. For decades, rescuers relied on teams of volunteers walking shoulder-to-shoulder through meadows, searching for hidden animals before mowing began. Now, drones are dramatically changing that equation.

ABZ Innovation is looking to make drone-powered building cleaning a lot more practical for professional operators. The Hungary-based drone manufacturer, which operates in more than 40 countries, has unveiled what it calls the world’s first dedicated ground station designed specifically for industrial drone cleaning.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has expanded the list of aircraft exempt from its sweeping foreign-drone import restrictions, marking another sign that federal regulators are willing to make targeted exceptions even as the broader crackdown remains in place.

AirData UAV has reached a significant milestone in the energy and utilities sector, announcing that more than 120 organizations worldwide now use its drone fleet management platform. The achievement comes as drone adoption across critical infrastructure continues to accelerate and operators prepare for what could be the biggest regulatory shift in commercial drone operations in a decade.

If you’ve been waiting for a deal on one of the most talked-about new drones in recent memory, Prime Day may be the time to act. Antigravity has announced its biggest sale of the year, with discounts of up to 25% on the Antigravity A1, the world’s first 8K 360 drone. The promotion begins June 23 and will be available through Amazon as well as Antigravity’s official online store. Accessories will also be discounted by 20%, making it easier for buyers to build out a complete flying kit.

DJI is rolling out a new firmware update for its DJI Dock 3 and Matrice 4D series ecosystem, bringing one particularly notable addition: support for the recently launched DJI O4 Ground Station, a new signal-enhancement solution designed to push remote drone operations farther than before.

DJI has taken its campaign against the Federal Communications Commission’s drone restrictions directly to the agency’s leadership, formally submitting an independent cybersecurity assessment that found no evidence supporting many of the security concerns long cited against the company.

DJI is taking aim at one of the biggest challenges drone pilots face: maintaining a strong, reliable connection when flying in difficult environments. The company has unveiled the DJI O4 Ground Station, a new transmission system designed to dramatically extend drone communications while improving reliability in areas where signal interference, obstacles, or distance can disrupt operations.

DJI picked quite a day to sue. Just as Insta360 was celebrating the launch of its highly anticipated Luna Ultra camera — a Leica-powered 8K handheld gimbal camera aimed squarely at creators — DJI filed not one, but two patent infringement lawsuits accusing its fast-growing rival of copying technologies behind the Osmo Pocket lineup.

If you’ve been waiting for an excuse to try a drone without spending a fortune, DJI may have just handed you one. The company’s palm-sized Neo drone is now available at a cool discount, with all major bundles currently marked down by 15%. The deals arrive just in time for Father’s Day, and they make one of DJI’s most beginner-friendly drones even harder to ignore.

For years, creators looking for a compact stabilized camera have largely gravitated toward DJI’s Pocket series. Now, Insta360 is stepping into that space with what may be its most ambitious camera yet. The company has unveiled the Luna Ultra, a Leica co-engineered gimbal camera that combines a large 1-inch sensor, 8K video recording, AI-powered tracking, and a built-in three-axis stabilization system in a device small enough to fit in your pocket.

The future of drone-powered railway inspections may not involve a pilot standing trackside at all. UK drone solutions provider Heliguy has secured a significant Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) authorization from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), allowing it to conduct remote drone operations for rail infrastructure giant Network Rail.

DJI has quietly created one of the most confusing buying decisions in the drone industry. Not because its drones are difficult to understand, but because two of its most popular first-person view (FPV) models now appeal to completely different types of users despite looking remarkably similar on paper.

Want to know where the drone industry is headed next? The people behind one of the sector’s most influential research efforts are asking drone professionals around the world to help answer that question.