DJI

SZ DJI Technology Co., Ltd. or Shenzhen Da-Jiang Innovations Sciences and Technologies Ltd. or DJI, is a Chinese technology company headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong. DJI manufactures commercial unmanned aerial vehicles for aerial photography and videography. It also designs and manufactures camera systems, gimbal stabilizers, propulsion systems, enterprise software, aerial agriculture equipment, and flight control systems.
DJI accounted for over 90% of the world's consumer drone market as of June 2024. Its camera drone technology is widely used in the music, television, and film industries. The company's products have also been used by military and police forces, as well as terrorist groups, with the company taking steps to limit access to the latter.
DJI products have drawn concerns over privacy and security. They have been used by combatants from all sides during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The company has been designated as a "Chinese Military Company" and sanctioned by the United States government, but its drones can still be purchased and operated in the country.

History

The company was founded in 2006 by Frank Wang. Born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, he enrolled as a college student at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2003. He was part of the HKUST team participating in the ABU Robocon and won third prize.
Wang built the first prototypes of DJI's projects in his dorm room, selling the flight control components to universities and Chinese electric companies. He used the proceeds to move to the industrial hub of Shenzhen and hired a small staff in 2006. The company struggled at first with a high degree of churn among employees, attributed to Wang's abrasive personality and perfectionist expectations. The company sold a modest number of components during this period, relying on financial support from Wang's family friend, Lu Di, who provided US$90,000 and managed the company's finances. In 2009, DJI's components enabled a team to successfully pilot a drone around the peak of Mt. Everest.
In 2010, Wang hired a high school friend, Swift Xie Jia, to run the company's marketing. DJI began to cater more to drone hobbyists in markets outside of China. In 2011, Wang met Colin Guinn at a trade show, and the two of them founded DJI North America, a subsidiary company focusing on mass market drone sales. In 2013, conflict erupted between Guinn and Wang, with the latter shutting down the American subsidiary. Guinn sued DJI, with the case eventually being settled out of court.
In 2013, DJI released the first model of the Phantom drone, DJI's fully assembled drone model. Priced at $629, Phantom was an entry-level drone, featuring much more user-friendly experiences than other drones on the market at the time. The DJI Phantom was considered one of the most influential consumer drone products ever made. With its affordability, accessibility, and user-friendly software, it quickly captured the consumer drone market from hobbyists, professionals, and introduced the modern aerial photography drone form factor to the general public.
In 2015, DJI eclipsed the success of the Phantom with the Phantom 3, whose even greater popularity was in part due to the addition of a built-in live-streaming camera. DJI is now the largest consumer drone company in the world, driving many of its competitors out of the market. 2015 also marked the beginning of DJI's RoboMaster Robotics Competition, an annual international collegiate robot combat tournament held at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre.
In November 2015, DJI announced the establishment of a strategic partnership with Hasselblad. In January 2019, DJI acquired a majority stake in Hasselblad.
In 2017, DJI won a Technology and Engineering Emmy Award for its camera drone technology, which was used in the filming of various television shows including The Amazing Race, American Ninja Warrior, Better Call Saul, and Game of Thrones. That same year, Wang became Asia's youngest tech billionaire, and the world's first drone billionaire.
Also in 2017, DJI signed a strategic cooperation agreement to provide surveillance drones for use by the Chinese police in Xinjiang.
On June 5, 2018, police body cam and Taser maker Axon announced a partnership with DJI to sell surveillance drones to US police departments. As of 2020, DJI products were also widely used by US police and fire departments, with about 90% of drones used by public safety agencies coming from DJI.
On January 21, 2019, DJI announced that an internal probe had uncovered "extensive" fraud by some employees who "inflated the costs of parts and materials for certain products for personal financial gain." DJI estimated the cost of the fraud at "up to CN¥1 billion", but maintained that the company "did not incur a full-year loss in 2018."
In January 2020, the United States Department of the Interior announced that it would be grounding around 800 drones, which it had been using for wildlife conservation and infrastructure monitoring purposes. By March 2020, DJI had retained 77% of the US market share for consumer drones, with no other company holding more than 4%.
In 2020, DJI drones were being used by many countries around the world to combat the Coronavirus. In China, DJI drones were used by the police force to remind people to wear masks. In other countries, such as Morocco and Saudi Arabia, their drones were used to disinfect urban areas and monitor human temperatures in order to contain the spread of the Coronavirus.
In June 2022, Patent Trial and Appeal Board accepted a probe into the validity of Textron's patent, as Textron accused DJI of violating its patent regarding aircraft flight control systems for relative positioning to target vehicles and automatic hovering. In April 2023, a US jury found that DJI's drones with automatic hovering capabilities violated Textron's. The federal court ordered DJI to pay $279 million in damages. In a separate legal battle, DJI challenged the Textron patent as invalid on the grounds of obviousness, cited prior art, but PTAB denied the probe request.
In 2025, DJI introduced its first robot vacuum cleaner, the DJI Romo.

Corporate structure

In 2018, DJI raised roughly $1 billion in funds in preparation for an envisioned IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. As of July 2020, these rumors persisted with no indication that an IPO was forthcoming. The company had previously raised $500 million in a 2015 funding round from investors including state-owned New China Life Insurance, GIC, and New Horizon Capital, the latter being co-founded by the son of China's former premier minister, Wen Jiabao.
DJI has also received investment from Shanghai Venture Capital Co., SDIC Unity Capital, owned by the State Development and Investment Corporation, and China Chengtong Holdings Group, owned by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council. DJI denies they are a state-owned company, citing state-affiliated investor counts less than six percent of the company ownership and with less than 1% voting rights.
DJI counts roughly 14,000 employees and has 17 offices internationally. The company is known for having a very difficult hiring process as well as an extremely competitive internal culture where teams are often pitted against each other to design better products.
DJI's factories in Shenzhen include highly sophisticated automated assembly lines. Many of the components for these assembly lines are built in-house.

Products

Flight controller

Modules

Module	Lightbridge	PMU	iOSD MARK II	iOSD mini	BTU
Type	Video Downlink	Power Management	On-Screen Display	On-Screen Display	Bluetooth Link
Works With	A2, Wookong-M, Naza V2	A2, Wookong-M, Naza V2, Naza-M Lite	A2, Wookong-M, Naza V2	A2, Wookong-M, Naza V2	Naza V2
Interface	CAN Bus	CAN Bus, Battery Connection	CAN Bus	CAN Bus	CAN Bus
Battery Requirements	4S-6S Lipo	4S-12S Lipo	4S Lipo and Shared Flight Controller Power	2S Lipo and Shared Flight Controller Power	Shared Flight Controller Power

Camera drones

Flame Wheel

The Flame Wheel series are multirotor platforms for aerial photography. As of 2016, there is the hexacopter F550 and the quadcopters F330 and F450. The most recent is the ARF KIT.

Model	Flame Wheel F330	Flame Wheel F450	Flame Wheel F550
Diagonal wheelbase	33	45	69
Frame weight	156	282	478
Take-off weight	600–1250	800–1600	1200–2400

Phantom

The Phantom series has evolved to integrate flight programming with a camera, Wi-Fi or Lightbridge connectivity, and the pilot's mobile device. Phantoms are made for aerial cinematography and photography applications, but they are also used for recreational purposes.

Spark

Released in May 2017, the Spark features a 12-megapixel camera stabilized mechanically by a 2-axis gimbal. The Spark also carries an advanced infrared 3D camera that helps the drone detect obstacles in front of it as well as facilitate hand-gesture control. In addition to a smartphone app with a virtual controller, a physical controller can also be bought.
There have been multiple complaints that the drone switches off and falls while flying. DJI responded to this by releasing a mandatory battery firmware update in August 2017.

Mavic

The Mavic series currently includes Mavic Pro, Mavic Pro Platinum, Mavic Air, Mavic Air 2, Air 2S, Mavic 2 Pro, Mavic 2 Zoom, Mavic 2 Enterprise, Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced, Mavic 3, Mavic 3 Cine, Mavic 3 Pro, Mavic 3 Pro Cine, Mavic 3 Classic, Mavic Mini, Mini SE, Mini 2, Mini 3, Mini 3 Pro, and Mini 4 Pro. The release of the Mavic Air 2 was not without controversy, however, as DJI announced that a key safety feature, AirSense, would not be available on models outside the US. Shortages on components and complexities of production owing to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis at the time were blamed.
Starting with the Mini 2, the Mavic name was dropped from most of the new models, such as the Air 2S and the Mini SE.
DJI released the Air 2S on April 15, 2021.
The DJI Mavic 3 and the Mavic 3 Cine were released on November 4, 2021. The Mavic 3 superseded the Mavic 2 Pro and the Mavic 2 Zoom and was priced for prosumers and professionals more than hobbyists. The Mavic 3 Enterprise and Mavic 3 Thermal were released on September 27, 2022, and superseded the Phantom 4 RTK and Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced drones in surveying, inspection, safety, and rescue tasks. The DJI Mavic 3 Pro and Pro Cine were released in May 2023, with both versions having three cameras.
On 13 May 2025, DJI released the Mavic 4 Pro with a 100 MP 4/3″ Hasselblad sensor, 360° "Infinity" gimbal, 51 min flight time, and omnidirectional obstacle avoidance.