Best selling consumer camera drones (up to $2K) on Amazon in January – February time period. Drone sales on Amazon are often indicative of overall consumer drone sales as a decent percentage of customers prefer ordering from them. Please see notes at the end for our opinion on the trends driving these sales and rankings.
Phantom 3 Standard
Mavic Pro
Phantom 4
Phantom 4 Pro
Phantom 4 Pro
Phantom 3 Pro
Autel X-Start Premium
Phantom 3 Advanced
Hot Sellers below that we cannot accurately place in exact order due to Amazon differing categories which don’t line up.
Parrot BeBop 1 (refurb) – Hot Seller at $179 – w/GPS and Camera, etc. –
No longer on the Top Charts
The Yuneec Typhoon H appears to have fallen off the Charts with their H model ranking well over #1,000 in Camera and Photo. The prices seem to have increased which may be responsible for it ranking so poorly –
The older Yuneec Q500 4K is selling about the same numbers as the Typhoon H – coming in at #1,438 in Camera & Photo. At most times of years, units ranking much about #1,000 do not make it to this listing. We will call these two models “honorable mention” for this report!
Note: DJI models can be ordered worldwide direct from DJI also at this link.
Note that DJI also has a “Refurbished” Section where some models which are not available any longer (Phantom 3 Pro, regular Phantom 4) may be found at discount prices and with a good warranty:
Many Parrot models can also be purchased from their online store at this link.
Our Analysis of the Above – State of the Consumer Drone Industry Early 2017
Droneflyers.com has many detailed articles about the State of the Consumer Industry – recently articles can be found about DJI, Parrot’s layoffs and GoPro’s failure to crack the market. In addition we offer short analysis of the current sales trends such as the one below.
The current Amazon data shows some interesting trends. Consumers seem more than willing to spend MORE than before on Flying Cameras. While 2015-2016 saw a reduction or leveling of the average sales prices, we are now seeing spiking popularity of more expensive models. These include the Mavic Pro, which while the sales price is $999, the average “ticket” is closer to $1400 because many customers buy the more complete package and/or additional batteries, extra warranties, etc.
The same is evident in the popularity of the new DJI Phantom 4 Pro – a model which starts at $1499 ($1799 for unit with included screen). This unit has the more advanced 1″ Sony Sensor as well as additional features for the more experience photographer or videographer.
The swing toward higher priced units is evident only when such units actually provide more value for the money spent. For example, Yuneec seems to be unable to get much traction with their $1500-$1900 Typhoon H. This is probably due to the specifications (camera, app, range, 3rd party software, etc.) not being head and shoulders above lower cost models.
As evidenced by Parrot’s troubles, they have largely been unable to get it right – “it” being a finished product that wows that consumer. Their new FPV BeBop 2 is the first Parrot Product which seems to have intrigued a reasonable subset of drone consumers.
The market still remains dominated by DJI – we estimate they garner 80% of US sales of Camera Drones in the $400-$2000 price range. 2nd place is probably held by Autel with their single model X-Star Premium. Yuneec probably falls into 3rd place and Parrot #4. After those 4, any others (Xiro, eHang, etc.) only hold tiny percentages of the market.
The BIG NEWS of late 2016 and early 2017 remains the DJI Mavic Pro, which is selling in numbers which have surprised even DJI – and establishing an entirely new expectation of what a consumer drone is…and can be. It is likely the first consumer drone that will easily exceed one million units in the first year (that’s well over a billion dollars in retail revenue).
Ok, so that’s the short “reading of the cards”. Part 107, which allows commercial drone operations, may be driving the sales of the more expensive Phantoms and even the new Inspire 2. Tech envy – that is, having something that never existed before, is driving the Mavic Pro sales. There are still various other markets (beginners, DIY’ers, Racers, etc.) but they are quite a bit smaller than the others.
Still – the Phantom 3 Standard does remain the top selling unit on Amazon – BUT – this is probably only due to the Mavic Pro being far backordered on the site. In other words, Mavic Pro is outselling every other model…even though delivery may be pushed back 2 months! That’s quite an achievement and may indicate the the Mavic Pros are outselling everything else when all vendors (DJI Direct, NewEgg, Dealers, etc.) are taken into account.
We’ll try to write these updates every 45 to 60 days – especially when they are large changes in the market data.
