PHOTOS: Japan Ministry Leaks Latest DJI Drone, the DJI Mavic Mini

Lots of drone rumors, especially DJI rumors these days and they’re mostly coming true. Early this morning we caught news of test photos allegedly leaked from Japan that show a new folding arm drone designed to replace either the DJI Spark or the DJI Mavic Air.

Our guess is that it’s a Spark replacement, due to it’s size and specific features (or lack thereof).

No Rear Sensors

Like the DJI Spark, the new Mavic Mini lacks rear sensors to avoid colliding with objects while flying backwards. This is likely because the battery is inserted by opening a flip up door on the rear of the drone, which doesn’t leave any room for the sensors.

The battery is an oblong cylindrical tube that appears to also have it’s own charging cube.

Also on the rear are slots for a microSD card and a microUSB connection.

The photos clearly show the dimension of the new folding mini-drone, with the body being approximatley 6.5cm x 16cm, or roughly 2.5″x 6.5″.

These body measurements make the Mavic Mini slightly larger than the existing Spark drone, which has a body that is 5cm x 13cm but smaller than the Mavic Air which is 7.5cm x 17.5cm when folded.

What We Know For Sure

The new Mavic Mini is not a replacement for the Mavic Air.  The new mystery drone is smaller, lighter, has fewer sensors and just doesn’t have the same robust features of the Mavic Air.

We think the new Mavic Mini is designed to be a sub-250 gram drone for drone enthusiasts who want DJI features and quality in a drone that isn’t impacted my most of the regulations sweeping the globe right.

Super small, and with a power-to-weight ratio that gives it decent battery life, we think the new Mavic Mini could have 17 minutes of battery life under ideal conditions.

Smart Phone Only?

The test images don’t show any controller, which leads us to wonder if a remote control would be an optional accessory for this drone since it’s designed to fly using a wifi signal from your smartphone.

DJI is already releasing a new product on 8.13.2019 that many think is a new Osmo Mobile 3.

They’re partly correct that a new Osmo Mobile 3 is coming, but we’re not convinced it’s on Tuesday. The  video teased by DJI has some ‘easter eggs’ in it that tell is the new product coming on 8.13.2019 is either a camera or a camera drone.

Back when the Osmo Pocket was released, the DJI teaser video, along with the invitation to the launch event in New York, showed cartoon people inside an elliptical shape turned out to represent the camera of the Osmo Pocket. Take a look at the invite we received below for the Osmo Pocket event.  Can you see the shape of the camera?

And when DJI released the incredible (and our favorite) new drone the Mavic 2 Pro, the invitation featured imagery that was designed to reflect the new zoom feature as well as an adjustable aperture. In the video that teased the launch, the image was animated in a way that reflected the new ‘dolly zoom’ feature in the Mavic 2 Zoom. Check it out below:

The new teaser/invite for the upcoming release event, Transform Your World, pulls the same trick that the Osmo Pocket invite used showing us a pop bottle, cat counting fingers and lights inside a shape that looks very much like the front of a camera. Take a closer look at the new ‘Transform Your World’ invite and I think you can see that similar, oblong shape, that could easily represent a camera.

We haven’t yet figured out what the counting fingers represent, with one hand showing 2 and the other 5 fingers.  Is it supposed to represent the number 25? Or 7? Or two of something and 5 of somthing else?  DJI does this all the time in their teasers, but this one is a real head scratcher.

DJI’s Transform Your World could definitely be for the new folding Osmo Mobile 3, a new Mavic Mini or some other DJI product we don’t yet know about, but we’re 90% certain that whatever is being released has a camera.  It’s possible that the new Osmo Mobile 3 and the Mavic Mini could also be released simultaneously.

While we eagerly await the new DJI product announcement on Tuesday, we’ll keep digging through our sources.  Make sure you subscribe for notifications to be the first to know what DJI is releasing next week.

You can bookmark the DJI launch event ‘Transform Your World here.

Know something we don’t about what’s coming next? Let us know in the comments below, or email us at dronenewsguy@dronereviewsandnews.com

Stay tuned!