How long does it take dji to make a new drone?

[Gray_seagull]

To make a new product, every manufacturer must take certain steps. The number of these steps or stages vary from business to business. The main stages are design and development phase, prototype production and evaluation/adjustments, commercial production, and finally inspection and delivery.

According to Michael Perry, Managing Director of DJI North America, the day after they started shipping the Mavic Pro they went back to the drawing board. That was in late October 2016. Fourteen months later they announced the Mavic Air. So, dji’s brand new drone manufacturing cycle is about 14 months. That doesn’t mean dji will wait for another 14 months before they release a new drone. They released the Spark in mid-2017. What that means is once the design team completes the prototype final adjustments, they start a new project. It seems that it takes the design team 6 to 7 months to finish designing a project.

So, If I want to guess the release date of a new drone, based on what I mentioned above, it would be in mid-2018.

That is my guess, but I could be wrong

 

[Kilrah]

According to Michael Perry, Managing Director of DJI North America, the day after they started shipping the Mavic Pro they went back to the drawing board.

Firstly that means nothing at all, they can say whatever you want to hear - and it doesn't say what product line that applies to anyway.

There are almost certainly multiple teams working on different products simultaneously. The spark was likely in development before the MP was even announced.

I'd expect about a year of work in average, obviously very variable depending on product. Developing the MP and then MA from a clean slate both times isn't the same as developing the P4P after the P4.

 

[genesimmons]

i would think there would be some bearing on how many mav pro they have built, if they have 500,000 of these in a warehouse waiting to be shipped to reatailers they prob dont want to release a mav pro 2 as that would significantly hurt mav 1 sales, it would be smart to discount the mav 1 some what to decrease the stock then release a newer model

 

[Gray_seagull]

There are almost certainly multiple teams working on different products simultaneously. The spark was likely in development before the MP was even announced.

based on dji releases, I would assume multiple design teams working on one product. Each team is specialized in designing certain part of the drone. I don't think the aerodynamic team is the same as the gimbal team or the power team. The teams carry and enhance the technologies from one drone to the successor. IMHO, If they had multiple teams working on different products simultaneously dji would have much more types of drones.

 

[Kilrah]

Multiple teams on multiple products.

Some teams work on core technologies that will be common (flight control, camera, system management, image transmission, app etc), then one team per product whose job it is to integrate those systems and design a specific product around them, consulting with a department of specialists for things like aerodynamics, those would likely work on all (flying) products...

They DO have many types of drones already to periodically update (6 or so? that's a LOT), and other products too...

 

[HWCM]

I did not know there were so many DJI production experts here.

 

[Gray_seagull]

I did not know there were so many DJI production experts here.

Oh yeah, here is one more expert Mavic II

 

[ac0j]

"How long does it take dji to make a new drone?"

In China, the assembly line goes pretty fast. I would bet from start to finish a new Mavic probably takes less than an hour. If it was any longer than that, I am pretty sure some 8 year olds would get the whip.

 

[HWCM]

Oh yeah, here is one more expert Mavic II

Exactly.

 

[swooshdave]

More important than how long it takes is when you release. My theory is that the MP II won't be released until the release date for the new Autel is announced. Then DJI will announce to take the steam away from Autel.

 

[HWCM]

More important than how long it takes is when you release. My theory is that the MA II won't be released until the release date for the new Autel is announced. Then DJI will announce to take the steam away from Autel.

Lol

 

[Classic flyer]

I did not know there were so many DJI production experts here.

Looks like you and I were left out of the inner circle

 

[swooshdave]

Looks like you and I were left out of the inner circle

So you’re surprised there are so many professional spectators on the internet?

 

[Gray_seagull]

More important than how long it takes is when you release. My theory is that the MA II won't be released until the release date for the new Autel is announced. Then DJI will announce to take the steam away from Autel.

That can be true but, in my opinion, I think Autel is the one waiting for dji to release their drone. It seems that they have put their life savings into the Evo which can easily be beaten by dji. What I think is that dji is copying Apple business style pretty much. Apple keeps advertising 3 generations in their website but you can find older ones in some stores and online.
So, dji releases a new drone in a calculated quantities. Achieve their sales and profit targets, fade it away then start the cycle with a better product. That's how Apple does it and dji follows.
Mavic pro has already passed 3/4 of its business life and it is time for a new product.

 

[swooshdave]

At this point Autel has more to lose. The Mavic Pro is still a better drone than anything on the market. They can sit on the MP II for a while. But as they are clearing out the MP I with discounts I suspect the II is not long.

 

[Classic flyer]

So you’re surprised there are so many professional spectators on the internet?

Indeed...it's like being in the DJI lab