Phone maker, accessory maker and vendor of action cameras and even segway rival, Xiaomi are now rumoured to be working on their own range of low-cost drones! This is exciting!
There are two markets that have exploded in popularity in recent years and those are the action camera market and the quad-copter/drone market. GoPro are often credited with increasing the awareness and popularity of sports cameras, while Shenzhen based DJI are the go to brand for consumer drones.
Xiaomi have already entered the action camera market with the Yi Camera, a GoPro like device manufactured by Xiao Yi (a start up with the same investors as Xiaomi). The Yi camera continues the Xiaomi story of bringing high-end hardware to more consumers thanks to affordable pricing, and now drones could be in the works.
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The Xiaomi drone won’t be made by Xiao Yi this time (but will likely carry those Yi cameras) but will be developed by Daijiang, a company based in Beijing located just around the corner from Xiaomi.
Of course Xiaomi have denied the rumours, but this doesn’t mean it isn’t true, however they will be entering a very competitive space and one which is seeing many new laws and regulations created to control the potential dangers of drones in public spaces.
Personally I would love to see a Xiaomi made UAV, and am excited for the possibilities of a drone connected to your various Xiaomi home gadgets. How about you? Do you see drones as the next major tech war zone?