Drone manufacturer DJI has inked a deal with Apple that will see its latest drone, the Phantom 4, available exclusively through Apple retail locations and DJI flagship stores through March 23, reports Re/code. Pre-orders are available beginning today, and brick and mortar locations are expected to have the drone in stock starting on March 15.
Apple has long sold DJI products in its retail stores, currently offering the DJI Phantom 3. The next-generation Phantom 4, priced at $1,399, includes an Obstacle Sensing System that allows the drone to detect and avoid objects in its path.
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It has a magnesium core to improve rigidity without increasing weight and it has better battery life. The Phantom 4 is able to fly for 28 minutes, 25 percent longer than the Phantom 3 Professional, and it has a new TapFly mode that lets users tap on their smartphones or tablets to send the drone flying in a specific direction.
With a revamped Vision Positioning System, the Phantom 4's max effective altitude has been increased by 300 percent, and it performs better indoors. An ActiveTrack feature also allows it to stay locked on a moving target for tracking purposes, and the redesigned lens is said to "dramatically" increase sharpness.
The Phantom 4 will be available for pre-order from Apple or the DJI website starting today. Pre-orders have gone live on the DJI site but are not yet available via the Apple online store. The Phantom 4 will be in Apple retail stores on March 15, expanding to other retailers on March 23.
Top Rated Comments
It would be nice to have a car designed to launch it. For example, when you get stuck in traffic due to an accident, just have it scout ahead and show you on your smart phone the accident ahead of you and allow you to start changing to a free lane. In fact, it would be nice if everyone had a drone in their car for that purpose. It would be hilarious.
Yeah. Then we'd have drones crashing into each other, and raining down on the traffic jam. More accidents would happen and more drones would be launched.
Better battery life? That's not the Apple way. Don't tell Apple about this or they'll insist the Phantom 5 is thinner and lighter!It has a magnesium core to improve rigidity without increasing weight and it has better battery life.
I hate to say this but in this day and age of terrorism, I am afraid these will become the next autonomous terrorist weapons of mass destruction. Some things should not just be sold as is without thinking about the security risks and potential harm it can do to the public.
Unlikely due to the limited lift capacity of these drones - a few ounces at most. Hard to pack enough power do do much. If terrorists run out of suicide bombers and have to go stealth then it might be helpful but a person with a long coat and backpack can carry 100x the explosive power.I don't' see why any terrorist can't use this strap on some sort of explosive device set targeting to a subject, scare that subject into running into a crowd and then detonate.
I saw the verge video on this drone and it's just too easy to set tracking on a human subject and the fact you now don't even need a human to control it for it to track/follow you is amazing and at the same time frightening because there is no safety features for these drones. Anyone can buy them and do harm if they wanted to. They'd have to improvise on how to produce mass destruction but the fact they can do this without being seen in public is alarming.