China's camera drone market is still in early stages of development, with the competitive landscape still taking shape. A total of 40,000 camera drones were shipped in China during the third quarter of 2015, and IDC expects shipments to reach 390,000 units in 2016. As camera drones become increasingly popular, IDC forecasts that the camera drone market will see a CAGR of 68% in the coming five years with shipments reaching three million units by 2019.
The Ultra HD recording will become an important driver in the camera drone market. Thus far, only DJI and Yunnec have employed Ultra HD cameras as a standard across their camera drones. As consumer demand is further segmented, Ultra HD camera drones will become mainstream products for professional aerial photography while camera drones with lower-resolution cameras will be favored by entry-level users or aerial photography amateurs.
The market for entry-level camera drones priced under CNY5,000 (US$770) will face increasing competition. In the third quarter of 2015, DJI made an aggressive move in the entry-level market segment by releasing the DJI Phantom 3 Standard at a CNY4,799 (US$738) price point. At the same time, domestic manufacturers Wingland and SimToo also released camera drones priced below CNY5,000 (US$770). These moves have put a pressure on manufacturers of entry-level camera drones such as ZeroTech, Ehang and Parrot.
The transition from specialized to general distribution channels is inevitable. As the camera drone market grows in scale, distribution will transition from specialized camera drone channels to diversified channels such as IT general distributors, e-commerce platforms and physical retailers. This trend was kick started by DJI's appointment of VST ECS and Digital China as general distributors of its drone products in China.
Shipments of commercial camera drones will reach 930,000 by 2019. As camera drones find widespread applications in areas such as mineral exploration, traffic law enforcement, disaster monitoring, and vocational education, the commercial camera drone market is set to see explosive growth towards the end of 2016. IDC forecasts that commercial camera drones will account for approximately 30% of China's overall camera drone market by 2019.
The camera drone market will enter a new competition landscape as more manufacturers enter the scene. According to IDC research, DJI led the camera drone market with a 68.5% market share in the third quarter of 2015. However, the camera drone market landscape will undergo significant restructuring as camera drone solution providers join hands with investors, and Internet companies enter the camera drone market as part of their Internet of Things (IoT) deployments. In addition, traditional camera manufacturers such as Gopro and Sony will also challenge the consumer-grade camera drone market by leveraging their existing user bases, leading camera technologies, and channel resources.
