DJI unveils DJI Flip with foldable wings capable of shooting 4K/60

Lightweight drones are experiencing a small renaissance leading up to 2025. We’ve seen more designs small enough to take off and land in the palm of your hand, but the new DJI Flip offers one of the sweetest-looking drone designs yet. Flip’s transforming wings fold up for easy transport, making him look like a droid you’ve seen hanging around the cafeteria Star Wars Skeleton Crew.

The Flip is another lightweight drone that can be launched from virtually anywhere. like last year’s DJI Neo for $200, includes several automatic shooting modes for vloggers who don’t want to fiddle with the app or physical controls. The Flip’s top upgrade is a 48MP, 1/1.3-inch CMOS sensor that can shoot up to 4K, 60 FPS video with HDR. The Flip can also record slow motion videos at up to 100 FPS in 4K.

DJI let us fly the drone in a short indoor demonstration outside of CES. Although we didn’t have a place to test its speed, I was impressed with its stability in the air. The four cages around the propellers are metal, not plastic. This should in theory make them more durable, although DJI will sell additional propeller blades. The drone is also not heavy at just 249 grams or just over 0.5 pounds. It may not be as light as the DJI Neo, but you should get better stability with the extra weight.

Folding the Flip up was also easy and hassle-free, although you have to remember to flip the rear fins over before doing the front ones. I wasn’t able to delve too deeply into the picture quality during my brief demo. DJI promises you’ll get video quality on par with the company’s Mini 4 Pro drone or Osmo Pocket 3 gimbal camera.

DJI’s latest ultralight drone, the DJI Neo, was almost too good for its low starting price, the Chia-based drone maker has a design that’s a little bigger, a little more expensive, but should offer better FPS at 4K and three times better battery life. The Flip can do 4K at 60 FPS compared to the NEO’s 30 FPS, and the new drone promises a flight time of 31 minutes. Battery life is probably less during actual use, especially if you try to use it in sport mode, but it’s a step up from the Neo’s 10 to 15 minutes of flight time on a single charge. The new drone still has the same Quickshots that let you do a quick circle dash or boomerang run if you’re trying to shoot a quick Instagram video.

If you know drones, you’ll probably notice similarities between the DJI Flip and the HOVERAir X1. This $520 MSRP drone also folds up thin enough to slip into a purse or large pocket. Like the Neo, this device doesn’t include GPS or obstacle avoidance technology, although the DJI Flip can detect nearby objects to avoid hitting a tree. DJI’s obstacle avoidance can be very sensitive, but turning the drone into sports modes will let you crash into as many walls as you like.

DJI Flip is positioned between the ultra-small, ultra-light DJI Neo and DJI Mini. While the Neo was nimble and incredibly strong, especially indoors, the Flip is much more stable thanks to its extended wingspan. It sounds more like an oversized buzzing insect than a miniature tornado, especially when flying indoors. The other advantage of the larger lens is that it also accepts ND filters for high-speed shots. DJI said it will sell a pack of 16, 64 or 256 ND filters, although they are sold separately.

The DJI Flip retails for $440, but if you want the RC 2 controller, you’ll have to shell out $640. The Fly More Combo with the controller, three batteries and a charging hub costs $780. The drone should be available to order from Tuesday. The US government is still hem and having on whether to ban sales of DJI drones over concerns that the Chinese company could threaten the US. If you’ve been hoping to get your hands on a DJI drone, it might be better to act sooner rather than later. However, you should always check reviews, including ours, before hitting any buy button.