❯ DJI and Insta360 together ship more than nine in ten handheld smart cameras worldwide as GoPro’s share falls to 3%

Two Shenzhen companies take 93%In the second quarter, DJI and Insta360 held 73% and 20% of the global handheld smart camera market, while action camera pioneer GoPro’s share fell to 3%, the Financial Times reported, citing IDC data. The two Shenzhen companies together hold 93% and are competing for the global top spot.

5.88 million units in a quarterThe IDC report, as summarized by RedShark News, shows global handheld smart camera shipments of 5.88 million units in the second quarter, up 57% year over year, with sales of $2.34 billion. DJI shipped 4.28 million units, up 87%; Insta360 shipped 1.15 million, up 40%, and holds 73% of the 360 camera segment. GoPro’s action camera shipments fell 49% and its 360 camera shipments fell 61%.

Growth comes from pocket gimbal camerasThe category covers action cameras, 360 cameras and gimbal cameras. The fastest growth came from gimbal cameras such as DJI’s Osmo Pocket, at 2.8 million units, up 87%, overtaking traditional action cameras as the largest segment. Over the same period the average selling price fell 6% for gimbal cameras and 4% for action cameras. IDC expects shipments to approach 41 million units by 2030.

Meeting head-on in the same categoriesThe two companies’ product lines are overlapping. IDC data compiled by PhotographyTalk shows that in wide-angle action cameras DJI holds 64%, up 11 points from a year earlier, and Insta360 more than 17%; shipments of detachable thumb cameras grew more than 300%, with Insta360 holding 43%. With both competing directly in the same categories, new products and price changes will come more frequently.

▮ SIGNALGrowth in this market is driven by new categories; gimbal and thumb cameras have rewritten the rankings, and companies that stuck to a single category fell behind fastest.