In approx. order of USA sales rank. # given afterwards is rank in Camera and Photo (or approx. calculated rank). Our commentary is given below this list.
Phantom 3 Standard – #59
Mavic Pro – #90
Phantom 4 – #200
Phantom 3 Pro – #260
Autel X-Star Premium – #300
Parrot BeBop 2 FPV – #350
Phantom 3 Advanced #500
Yuneec Typhoon H – #900
Yuneec Q500 4K – #1600
Parrot finally seems to have a winner with their BeBop FPV package – this features a smaller R/C controller as well as a headset to mount a smartphone into. Experts, including ourselves, have been telling Parrot for YEARS to forget about the “app control” and use a real R/C remote. It seems as if they have finally listened and consumers are thanking them for it.
While the Phantom 3 Standard is still the largest seller, the Mavic Pro and the Phantom 4 rank shows that consumers will spend more money (and even wait a month or two – in the case of the Mavic) for an advanced and feature-laden model.
Autel remains on the list largely due to their price reduction – the X-Star Premium introduced last May at $1199 is now $699, allowing some consumers to choose it over similar priced Phantom models.
Yuneec again lags the field – although the more expensive model H is selling better than their older Q model. Yuneec has also lowered their prices as much as $500 on the H (with RealSense) in order to stimulate sales.
Although it is impossible to accurately calculate exact market share – indications are that DJI still holds a solid 75-80% of the consumer level (less than $1500) stabilized camera drone market. Their 2016/2017 unit sales are likely to be in the millions (1.5 to 2.5 million units) while many of the other makers are measuring in 10’s of thousands or – at most – 100K to 200K units a year.
These numbers do not include toy models which are selling by the millions.
Rankings can vary daily due to special sales and general ups and downs of pricing and demand. However, many of these models have been Best Sellers for many months indicating a high degree of consumer acceptance.
