The highly-anticipated DJI Mavic Air 2 is set to launch on 27 April, and this what we know and are expecting
The teaser image being used by DJI ahead of its 27 April announcement(Image credit: DJI)
Updated: The Mavic Air 2 has now officially launched. Read our full DJI Mavic Air 2 review
The DJI Mavic Air 2 is almost certainly arriving on 27 April – and every drone enthusiast is excited about what the latest version of the enthusiast quadcopter will look like. The original DJI Mavic Air was back in January 2018 - and was notable for being the first miniature 4K UAV. But it is now starting to look a bit underspecified, compared to more recent launches.
But what do we know for certain, what has leaked, and what do we hope for with the new DJI Mavic Air 2?
What we do know is that DJI have started a countdown clock for an announcement with the tagline "Up your game" that teases an announcement at 9.30pm EDT on 27 April (which will be in the early hours of 28 April for Europe). A futuristic, high-contast image (above) is the only clue that we are getting about the new drone's appearance from DJI themselves.
But there is a lot of information that has been leaked - through certification filings made with various government organizations around the world.
The biggest reveal is not only the DJI Mavic Air 2 name, but the increased camera resolution for the new foldable quadcopter. The video resolution stays at 4K, but the maximum stills resolution increases to 48 megapixels (up from 12 megapixels on the original Mavic Air).
In reality, this may not be quite as exciting as this first sounds, as the drone will still use a 12 megapixel sensor - but will using some sort of stitching algorithm to get to the higher resolution. We do expect the sensor to be larger, though, increasing from 1/2.3in to 1/2in.
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The next major improvement that has emerged is in the flight time. The Mavic Air had 21 minute running time, but the Air 2 promises a maximum flying team of 34 minutes. That will exceed the 30 minutes offered by the budget-priced DJI Mavic Mini which was launched at the end of last year. The maximum speed of the new drone will be 42.5mph (68.4km/h), with a maximum range of 5 miles (8km) using a 3500Ah 11.5V lithium-polymer battery.
The Mavic Air 2 is also said to have ActiveTrack 3.0 – an AI object tracking feature that DJI had previously implemented on its Ronin gimbal stabilizers, but we have not yet seen on a drone.
Also leaked, is the there will be two versions of the DJI Mavic Air 2 - one which offers a builti-in ADS-B receiver, and the other that does not. ADS-B technology, or AirSense as DJI is calling it, detects nearby airplanes and helicopters and can warn drone pilots if they are set for collision course. Which version of the drone you can buy will probably depend on where you live, and the current drone rules and regulations in your country.
Chris George has worked on Digital Camera World since its launch in 2017. He has been writing about photography, mobile phones, video making and technology for over 30 years – and has edited numerous magazines including PhotoPlus, N-Photo, Digital Camera, Video Camera, and Professional Photography.
His first serious camera was the iconic Olympus OM10, with which he won the title of Young Photographer of the Year - long before the advent of autofocus and memory cards. Today he uses a Nikon D800, a Fujifilm X-T1, a Sony A7, and his iPhone 15 Pro Max.
He has written about technology for countless publications and websites including The Sunday Times Magazine, The Daily Telegraph, Dorling Kindersley, What Cellphone, T3 and Techradar.
