Rumors on Chinese social media network Weibo have pointed to "Xiaohongshu girls" as having snapped up 80 million yuan (around $11 million / £9 million / AU$17 million) worth of DJI Osmo Pocket 3s and left global supplies of the popular vlogging camera hard to come by.
But just who or what are Xiaohongshu girls?
Xiaohongshu is an online platform, known as RedNote, but the name translates literally as 'little red book'. Even though this Chinese platform has the same name as Chairman Mao's famous book, this is not a reference that the platform owners are especially keen on.
It is in fact a reference to a Hong Kong shopping guide, which some say is why the platform's user base is still 70% female and born after 1990 (it was over 90% female). The name Xiaohongshu is often considered to be associated with truth and wholesomeness – at least in China.
Xiaohongshu – now a $17 billion / £13 billion / AU$27 billion platform in value – extends well beyond the former British colony of Hong Kong. It is a social networking and ecommerce platform popular not only across China but, interestingly, increasingly in the West as well (after the US government floated a ban on TikTok and users looked for an alternative).
Xiaohongshu has also made some notable missteps in its time. When it wanted to grow by attracting males, it allowed an advertising campaign that suggested it was a place to see "Beautiful ladies… without spending any money!" Inevitably, there were some harassment concerns and the campaign was withdrawn and apologized for.
Nonetheless it is understandable that, should a device become popular with this consumer base, it could become difficult to get hold of – which is exactly what people said had happened to the DJI Osmo Pocket 3, at least according to Hard Krypton Analysis.
Its writer, Hu Yi, posted on Weibo (a Chinese messaging platform a little like Twitter) noting that Xiaohongshu had hosted 1.2 billion views of videos from Osmo Pocket 3 cameras, and that supply was "insufficient". The writer connected this supply issue in Chinese stores to the view count, noting that before these views the sales were at around a quarter the level.
He suggests the increase in sales to Xiaohongshu's base has come because the Pocket 3 is relatively small and light compared to pro cameras, still boasts a large image sensor so can be used in difficult lighting, and is easy to use (a threshold "out of the circle" of pros, in his words).
In other words, it is desirable but not cheap – or easy to get hold of, which has apparently caused some, to draw comparisons to the Chinese liquor Moutai (which goes for up to $5,000 / £3,800 / AU$7,900 a bottle in some Western shops!).
Asked for comment, a DJI spokesperson said: "It's fantastic to see that the demand for our Osmo Pocket 3 has far exceeded our expectations. We're working as quickly as possible to make sure that everyone is able to get their hands on it and sharing their content with the world."
This isn't the first time we've reported on the success of the Pocket 3, either – the device has also had an 11-month reign in Japan, easing DJI to the top of that country's video camera market.
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An alternative to the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 is to use one of the best camera phone gimbals – I recently tested the new DJI Osmo Mobile OM7P, for example.
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