In recent years, particularly in 2025, the outdoor photography equipment market appears to be in a year of "unbridled growth." From outdoor sports bloggers using Insta360's action cameras to record their cycling and hiking adventures anytime, anywhere, to vloggers capturing daily life with DJI's Pocket cameras, to ordinary people inadvertently showing the DJI watermark on photos posted in their social media feeds—the era of "everyone owning an outdoor camera" has truly arrived. The data is even more telling; according to Sandalwood's China e-commerce market monitoring, as of October 2025, sales of action cameras reached 4.76 million units, a year-on-year increase of over 252%, with sales revenue surging by more than 316%. Furthermore, the "2025 China E-commerce Development Report" indicates that by November this year, the transaction volume for action cameras skyrocketed by 6191%. Advantages such as compact size, portability, and high cost-performance ratio are attracting young people to purchase this "new toy."
However, beneath the consumer frenzy, many young buyers are also experiencing a "silent disappointment," quietly letting their "Pocket 3" gather dust or listing it on second-hand platforms. As young people become disenchanted with outdoor cameras, how long can this boom last? The market is heating up, dominated by two major players. Opening social platforms like Xiaohongshu and Weibo provides an intuitive sense of what outdoor cameras mean to the youth. In numerous user posts, whether featuring DJI Osmo Pocket, DJI Action series, or Insta360, the devices are often closely linked with themes like "Vlog," "beautiful life," "travel," and "outdoors," with countless users associating them with labels such as "professional feel," "cinematic quality," and "must-have for great shots."
After all, features like first-person perspective shooting, ultra-wide-angle lenses, and 4K+HDR video—capabilities that ordinary smartphones cannot fully satisfy—are significant draws. The compact and portable nature also makes the act of "recording" seem simpler, while the current pricing, with entry-level action cameras generally ranging from 300 to 800 yuan, and mid-range pocket cameras like the DJI Pocket 3 standard kit dropping below 3,000 yuan (with high-end kit options keeping the budget under 5,000 yuan), further lowers the barrier to entry. On the other hand, as DJI's watermark frequently appears in social media feeds and major influencers on platforms are seen with either a DJI or Insta360 device, outdoor cameras undoubtedly gain an additional layer of identity as "social currency" in this era where "everyone is a content creator."
In fact, action cameras are not a novelty. There was a time when the category, pioneered in the Chinese market by the American brand GoPro, sparked a buying frenzy upon its debut and even drove explosive growth in the sector. But that boom quickly faded. A primary reason was that action cameras at the time were still primarily targeted at professional outdoor enthusiasts. Nowadays, domestic brands like DJI and Insta360 have built product lines that cover a much broader demographic, successfully transitioning action cameras from a "niche toy" to an "everyone has one" item. Consequently, the market continues to heat up, with DJI and Insta360 emerging as the dominant "duopoly."
Competition is also intensifying, partly manifested as constant product comparisons between the "two giants." For instance, when DJI entered the panoramic camera market in July 2025, it directly targeted Insta360's X5 as its benchmark. In less than three months, DJI's first product, the Osmo 360, achieved a reversal, capturing 49% of the market share in Chinese e-commerce channels. Insta360's share in these channels significantly contracted to 47%. Since the DJI Osmo 360 was priced at 2,999 yuan, 800 yuan lower than the original price of the Insta360 X5, Insta360 swiftly retaliated by reducing the price of the Insta360 X5 by 500 yuan and launching its second panoramic camera of the year, the "Insta360 X4 Air," in October 2025, promoting 8K video recording and a "lightweight" design as key selling points.
Furthermore, both Insta360 and DJI strengthened their "thumb camera" offerings in 2025, subsequently launching the Insta Go Ultra and OSMO Nano, respectively, further focusing on everyday, casual shooting. Of course, as the market heats up, more players are joining the fray. At the IFA Berlin consumer electronics show in September 2025, Dreame Technology's smart imaging brand "Photon Leap" made its debut with its first action camera. Meanwhile, Chinese smartphone manufacturers like Honor, OPPO, vivo, and Xiaomi have been reported to be preparing密集 launches of Pocket-style products. Will this lead to a new shift in the competitive landscape?
The market is continuously heating up, but on the consumer side, a process of "disenchantment" has begun. "I've become disenchanted with action cameras." On social platforms like Xiaohongshu, many consumers post notes expressing that action cameras are not as practical as imagined. One user mentioned, "It's impossible to achieve a truly unobtrusive first-person perspective wear; each method has its issues. For example, a chest strap affects breathing and is unusable during exercise. Head-mounted or neck-hung options are even more uncomfortable... less practical than a phone; the first-person perspective isn't that great." This post received over five hundred likes, and the comments section echoed many other problems, with some users frankly admitting, "Actually, ordinary folks like us don't really have much use for an action camera; there's not much worth recording."
If the wearing methods of action cameras deter many introverted individuals, the shooting experience of the once extremely popular DJI Pocket series also seems less convenient and user-friendly for the average consumer than imagined. Numerous "dissuasion posts" targeting the DJI Pocket series have appeared on social platforms. One user stated bluntly, "I advise impatient people not to buy it... The Pocket 3 is convenient for shooting, and the photos are beautiful, but transferring the files is such a hassle. People are really tight-lipped about this." In fact, searching for "Pocket3 export" on social platforms reveals many complaints: "The export process is maddening; I have to specifically criticize the Mimo app. Bluetooth transfer is as slow as a snail; transferring 30 videos took an hour with 10 crashes, can anyone relate?" "DJI's built-in beauty filter can only be transferred to the phone via Bluetooth. Using a cable is faster, but you only get the original video." These posts garner tens of thousands of likes, with many users commenting, "Completely agree," "You took the words right out of my mouth."
Apart from file export issues, many users have also reported product quality problems with such cameras on consumer complaint platforms like the Hei Mao投诉 platform. On the Hei Mao platform, one consumer filed a complaint stating: "I purchased a camera from the Insta360 flagship store on Taobao in September 2025. On September 13, I contacted customer service to report a noticeable delay on the expansion dock's display. The merchant apologized and indicated this would be improved through future firmware updates. However, I recently found the issue still persists significantly." Another consumer filed a complaint in December 2025, stating they had "purchased an 'Insta360 Ace Pro 2 Dual Battery Version' action camera on November 26, 2025." But after receiving it, the user discovered during normal use that "the camera cannot perform long-duration video recording, exhibiting issues like abnormal overheating, automatic shutdown, even freezing, and the automatic shutdown leads to loss of recorded video data. The core functionality of the product is completely unreliable."
As more "avoid this product" and "dissuasion" posts emerge, consumers are also becoming more rational. This newfound caution among young people tempted by action cameras has spurred another business—the rental of action cameras and pocket cameras. It has been noted that on social platforms like Xiaohongshu, second-hand trading platforms like Xianyu, and even Alipay, vendors offering rentals for DJI and Insta360 products have appeared, with prices as low as "9.9 yuan for 3 days." "I originally wanted to buy one, but a friend suggested I rent one to try first," one netizen commented. "For ordinary people, renting offers much higher value than buying. Renting occasionally for trips means you don't have to worry about it gathering dust at home."
Looking back a decade, outdoor enthusiasts once pointed out on "ZOL.com.cn" that for many users, purchasing an action camera was merely a novelty or an impulse buy. Precisely because of this, the consumer market for action cameras was in an awkward position. On one hand, consumers were full of curiosity about such products, making the market appear vibrant; but on the other hand, consumers lacked the likelihood of long-term use or upgrading, often resulting in one-off purchases. A decade later, current players like DJI and Insta360 seem to face a similar challenge: How can they transition their products from "novelty toys" to truly integrated, indispensable tools for everyday creation? In the future, perhaps only by gaining a deeper understanding of ordinary people's genuine recording needs and making breakthroughs in ease of use, ecosystem integration, and scenario innovation can the "cinematic feel" captured through these lenses become more than just a passing trend.
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