Monthly DJI Rumor Wrap Up: New Phantom Remote=New Phantom Drone

Leading up to DJI’s product announcement tomorrow, Evolve With Us, there are actually a lot of possible products that could be released. (You can bookmark the live event page here)

This month we’ve seen multiple FCC applications, and approvals, not all of which have been shared yet.

And we’ve also had the usual flow of DJI rumors both on the consumer and enterprise markets.

So here are all of the rumors that are fit to print.  And some new items that you didn’t know about.

New Phantom Contoller = New Phantom Drone = Phantom 4 V2.0

Back in January DJI made application to the FCC for a new remote controller, called C2 on the application, that bears model # S01A.  This corresponds with the RC for the new Mavic Air.  So the process is new remote + FCC application leads to new drone days later.

This month, DJI made application for a new C1 remote control.  If you’ve been following drone releases like we have over the last few years, you know that C1 is the Phantom remote.  This new C1, below, bears Model # GL300L.  The ‘L’ suffix is an all-new version of the Phantom remote which means a new version of the Phantom is also coming.  Whether it is a Phantom 4 V2 or a Phantom 5 is yet to be officially clarified.

Previous versions of the Phantom 4 series have had the GL300 remote as well.  The Phantom 4 Advanced was paired with a GL300C.  The Phantom 4 Advanced Plus was paired with a GL300E.  And the Phantom 4 Pro was paired with GL300F.

This remote control GL300L was approved on the same day that the Phantom 4 V2.0 received it’s approval from the FCC.

So we can start to piece a few things together.  First, because the FCC application and approval specifically indicates the actual product name and model number, we know that the next Phantom being released is the DJI Phantom 4 V2.0 bearing DJI model # WM331S.

Phantom 5 Later in 2018

No Phantom 5 is currently scheduled for short term release because no FCC application (or approval) identifying that model is in the works.

Over the last few weeks we’ve all seen the shiny new metallic skinned Phantom making the rounds with it’s interchangable lenses.

Everyone thinks this is the Phantom 5, but until we see it in print on an FCC application or approval, we remain uncommitted.

So which is it? Are we getting 2 new Phantoms this year? An upgraded Phantom 4 V2.0 and an all new Phantom 5 with interchangeable lenses?

We may find out very shortly with DJI’s web eventon March 28th, Evolve With Us, but because the event announcement came from twitter account of DJI Enterprise, we think there’s an chance that consumer-level DJI drones will be absent.

DJI MG-1P and MG-1P RTK Launch

Even more likely than the random Phantom rumors above is that DJI will showcase the new MG-1P RTK and MG-1P industrial drones at the March 28th Evolve With Us event.

Launched first in China, the MG-1P RTK and MG-1P received FCC clearance mid-March 2018.  These two drones are the latest addition to the DJI Agras fleet and they look like they’re all business.

We’ve heard that image transmission is HD quality and double the distance of the MG-1S using 4G technology.

Based on pricing in Asia the MG-1P RTK is expected to sell for around US$7000 and the MG-1P at US$5600.

The RTK stands for Real Time Kinetic and the enhancement allows it to operate more effectively in challenging environment like high voltage lines.

Mavic Pro II

With all of the chatter surrounding the Phantom 4 V2.0 and Phantom 5, we’re sad to see that the Mavic Pro II rumors have died down quite a bit this month.

It’s extremely rare for a DJI product to make it from concept to approval without any images leaking out.  But earlier this month one of the more reliable DJI ‘prophets’ claimed that the Mavic Pro II prototype was finished at the start of February yet zero evidence of it has landed on the web.  At the end of January the claim was made that the Mavic Pro II had actually started production.

Maybe we have a different interpretation of what ‘starting production’ means?

Next Steps

The reality of all the drone rumors is that you have to take them with a little bit of salt, and usually only one at a time.

Earlier drone releases, like the Spark, were swamped with leaks ahead of the launch.  Maybe DJI is getting better at locking down it’s new product development to put an end to unauthorized images getting to the internet.

Bookmark the DJI Evolve With Us web event at live.dji.com