Drones are still a niche toy industry or may usher in a blue ocean era

There is a question on Zhihu, an online Q&A community: What is the use of buying a drone for ordinary people? One of the answers, "Boys never grow up, but their toys become more and more expensive," has been liked hundreds of times.

Today, many people regard drones as toys, or even toys exclusively for model airplane enthusiasts, because apart from aerial photography, drones are still not very attractive to ordinary people. In the eyes of drone manufacturers, aerial photography drones should be as popular as cameras in every household, but due to user awareness and safety issues caused by the technical defects of drones themselves, they are still a niche.

In contrast to people's understanding and popularity of drones, the consumer drone industry has become popular. From the release of the first quadcopter multi-rotor aerial photography drone by DJI in 2013 to the layout of Xiaomi, Zero Degree, Ehang, Haoxiang and other manufacturers, the consumer drone industry has obviously become a red ocean. The market has not yet opened up, but the competition has already arrived.

What kind of drone is more likely to stand out in the market? Zheng Weifeng, founder of Zhendi, said in an interview with Sina Technology that the consumer drone industry has been reshuffled and will soon return to the blue ocean era. Drones suitable for popularization should be operated in accordance with user habits and have zero barriers to use. It is only a matter of time before drones with such characteristics enter households.

How difficult is it to build an aerial photography drone?

When it comes to aerial photography drones, Shenzhen-based DJI Innovations is unavoidable. Although this company's drone products account for 70% of the world's market share, it cannot stop the increasing number of competitors.

In February this year, industrial drone company Zhendi Technology announced in the United States that it would officially enter the consumer drone market and demonstrated its first aerial photography drone PowerEgg, becoming another competitor in the aerial photography drone field.

The drone, named PowerEgg, has an egg-shaped design, can automatically fold its tripod, has a 360-degree lens, and can move forward and backward according to gestures. Once it was exposed, it attracted the attention of drone enthusiasts. A model airplane enthusiast told Sina Technology that the concept map of this drone had caused a great response on the professional model airplane website "I Love Models", and many people were hotly discussing whether it could be mass-produced and eventually put on the market.

As expected by these model aircraft enthusiasts, the release date of this egg-shaped drone has been repeatedly postponed despite its beautiful appearance. Zheng Weifeng himself admitted that the development time of PowerEgg was extended from the scheduled one year to two years. Although Zhendi started out as an industrial-grade drone, it had accumulated several years of technology before that.

"Only those who have worked with aerial photography drones know that the threshold to entry in this industry is so high," said Zheng Weifeng. "In addition to the repeated postponements of the release date, this drone has undergone more than six major changes."

Of course, making an aerial photography drone is also very expensive. According to Zheng Weifeng, Zhendi Group initially planned to invest tens of millions of yuan in the research and development of the aerial photography drone project, but by the time the product was initially finalized, a total of 200 million yuan had been invested.

In addition, the lack of talent is a problem faced by Zhendi. Although China's civilian drones have almost monopolized the world market, the domestic drone industry still cannot keep up with the demand for high-end talents. Zheng Weifeng described Zhendi's opening of research institutes overseas as a last resort because relevant talents could not be found in China. In two years, Zheng Weifeng visited the United States and Europe many times, and finally established R&D institutions in five countries, including the United States, Germany, Australia, Canada and Finland, to solve problems in design, obstacle avoidance, interaction and other aspects.

After numerous delays and improvements, Zhendi's drone team finally came up with a product that satisfied Zheng Weifeng. He told Sina Technology that this drone changed the existing control mode, and users no longer need to read the manual to fly it, which is more user-friendly and will be a killer feature.

Is the drone industry a red ocean or a blue ocean?

In addition to the difficulty of manufacturing a unique drone, the situation in the drone industry is also enough to affect the development of a company.

According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 400 drone manufacturers in China, with more than 300 in Shenzhen alone. In Huaqiangbei Electronics Market, drones are performed on the roadside almost every day. If you are not a professional enthusiast, it is difficult to tell the difference between such drones and drones from brands such as DJI.

"On the surface, the drone industry is still a red ocean market," said Zheng Weifeng, "but in fact, the threshold for consumer-grade drones has been raised very high, and a reshuffle is coming."

Zheng Weifeng believes that the previous boom in the drone industry was driven by capital. "Many venture capitalists have invested in drone companies, including large companies such as Google and Intel. However, it is difficult for drone companies that have received investment to iterate and optimize their products and gain market recognition without several years. Once the money is burned out, it will be a turning point."

This turning point may be coming. Except for the industry benchmark DJI, which can guarantee to release a new product every year, many manufacturers have remained silent until now, and drone products with new designs and new technologies are becoming increasingly rare. Even industry insiders broke the news to Sina Technology that 3D Robotic, a star American drone startup that claims to challenge DJI's status, has recently been caught in a vortex of inventory and its survival is almost a problem.

"After the reshuffle, the consumer drone industry will be a blue ocean," said Zheng Weifeng. In addition to the easing of industry competition, the consumer drone market is indeed experiencing large-scale growth. Take DJI as an example. In 2015 alone, the company's drone product sales achieved a year-on-year growth of 300%.

As an industry insider who has switched from industrial drones to consumer drones, Zheng Weifeng firmly believes that the next wave of drone explosion will be in the consumer field. "More and more users have gained a certain understanding of drones in the past two years. Once the product is attractive enough and the price is reasonable enough, aerial photography drones will be popularized in every household like micro single-lens cameras."

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.