The drone technology continues to progress as time pass by. However, not every drone manufacturer is able to keep up with the trend, which means that there are companies who slowly drown in the competition. This is clearly evidenced by the number of drone-makers who continue to layoff employees due to several reasons.
DJI As The Top-most Drone Manufacturer In The Market
As most drone companies figuratively fall from the sky, Chinese company DJI continue to soar high. As per Market Watch's report, some analysts believe that the company has a market share of up to 85%. DJI currently has a valuation of eight billion dollars and the company claims that its sales volume rose to up to 100 times from 2011 to 2015.
DJI gained popularity with its sturdy and very clever Phantom drone that continues to get updates with new generations. At this point in time, the company has produced more drones that target different markets. Just last year, DJI was able to launch multiple high-end drones that differ in target audience. There's the photography-centric Phantom 4 Pro, backpacker-aimed Mavic Pro, videography buddy Inspire 2 and one with smart batteries called Matrice 600 Pro. Technically, DJI has become its own competition.
Drone Companies That Face Struggles
With DJI aside, drone-makers continue to face financial struggles. Take note that GoPro has gone through some sort of gloom when the GoPro Karma was recalled. The company managed to put the drone back in the market after resolving the issue but they also had to lay off 200 employees. Parrot, who makes the popular Bebop drone also announced that it plans to compress its team by letting go of about a third of its workforce. The hyped-up waterproof drone called Lily also never made it to the stores as the company behind it decided to call it quits. Earlier than the rest of these companies, 3D Robotics also let go of 150 people.
With that said, it's clear that the rivalry in the drone market is at its extremes. It's either you make it big or you don't make it at all. In DJI's case, the company was able to hit it big with all its high-quality drones and accessories. Despite the thousands of dollars' worth of money that DJI asks for its drones, the company still remains as the top drone-maker of choice for the people. Perhaps, DJI drones are indeed worth every penny when it comes to quality.
