DJI’s Mavic Air 2 drone, released last April, was a major upgrade from the original. It still lacked omni-directional obstacle avoidance, but that only takes a few flights to get used to and usually we prefer not having side and top sensors most of the time.
New images, and video, leaked today show a parallel development project for the Mavic Air 2 that included a model designed to challenge Autel’s encroachment on DJI’s dominance.
Images, like the one below, clearly show a revamped shell that includes top and bottom obstacle avoidance sensors as well as a thicker body and a 1″ sensor equipped camera that looks a lot like the camera on the Mavic 2 Pro. That larger body looks to support a Mavic 2 sized battery on a smaller airframe which could push the flight time beyond Mavic Air 2’s 34 minutes.
And this is where these features matter: most drone operators care about two things: camera quality and battery life. Obstacle avoidance is usually a close 3rd.
Is it too soon to start thinking that a Mavic Air 2 replacement is on the way? Or was this just one of several prototypes in a race to get an update for the Mavic Air 2?
Smaller aircraft have definitely been the trend lately with the DJI Mavic Mini, and the new Mini 2 (releasing tomorrow). Fixed-wing ‘pro-sumer’ drones like the Phantom 4 Pro V2.0 seem to be an almost abandoned class of drones. A couple of years ago we used to get regular leaks and rumors of a Phantom 5, but those too seem to have gone away.
What do you think about this version of Mavic Air 2 (video below)? With a 1″ sensor and omni-directional obstacle avoidance, we would definitely be interested.
As i believe maybe it was a prototype for the original air 2. Because if you see on the arm it says “mavic air 2”. I hope for a new air or that the original air 2 gets european Cx label.