New data proves what we already knew: the DJI 2019 market share is giant

In case it wasn’t already clear, the DJI 2019 market share in the U.S. is giant. New data confirms basically what we already knew: Chinese drone manufacturer DJI, which is known for its Mavic and Phantom drones, has a 76.8% market share in the U.S.

The data is based on FAA drone registration numbers as of June 3, 2019, as analyzed by drone market research and data group Drone Industry Insights.

The second place drone maker, based on FAA drone registrations, is Intel, with a teeny, 3.7% market share. While Intel makes the Falcon drone targeted at enterprise customers, much of that market share is due to is Shooting Star drones. The tech giant launches hundreds of its Shooting Star drones in the air at a time to conduct its popular nighttime light shows, which have flown at destinations like the Harry Potter themed area of Universal Studios, over Las Vegas’s famous Bellagio fountains, and the Olympic Opening Ceremony.

Coming in at No. 3 is perhaps, DJI’s closest competitor, which makes primarily consumer-focused drones like the Typhoon and Mantis drones. But even their 3.1% share is paltry against DJI’s 76.8% share.

The data has not been met without concern. Skydio, a small Silicon Valley-based drone maker (too small to even make DroneII’s list of top 10 drone companies in the U.S. by market share), recently released a memo calling out drone companies to make better products, and actually have a shot at upending DJI’s dominance. Skydio is an American drone company known for its Skydio 2 follow-me drone, which is (mostly) crash-proof.

“We have immense respect for DJI and the products they create, but the industry as a whole is not healthy,” according to a statement issued by Skydio. “The current generation of manually flown drones haven’t delivered on the ideas that have gotten so many of us excited about drones over the last few years.”

Skydio, for its part, thinks it can do better, but even Skydio’s drone — while highly praised by critics — failed to garner widespread adoption.

For what it’s worth, people want to buy American-made (hence, non-DJI) drones. A fall 2019 study of public safety professionals using drones, conducted by Droneresponders, found that, if offered similar drones made from either the U.S., China, France or Germany, a whopping 88% of respondents would rather purchase a drone from a U.S.-headquartered company.