DJI to drop support for some Phantom drones from the end of September
Jul 4, 2022
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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DJI has announced that as of September 30th, 2022, they will no longer be providing maintenance or technical support for their Phantom 2 (2.4G) and Phantom 3 4K drone models or their accessories. It’s not much of a surprise, given that DJI hasn’t manufactured these products since 2017 and drone technology has come a long way, but there are still a lot of Phantom 2 and Phantom 3 models out there still flying.
Naturally, DJI is suggesting that users of the Phantom 2 and Phantom 3 drones update their kit to a more modern drone. They don’t specifically say a new DJI drone and don’t mention any specific models but obviously, they want you to buy more because that’s what businesses do. But drone technology has come a long way since the days of the Phantom 2 and 3.
DJI’s notice reads:
Thank you for your long-term interest and support towards DJI. Subject to technological developments and changes in product usage requirements, each generation of electronic products has a fixed life cycle. To continuously provide you with premium products and service experiences, DJI regularly optimizes resource allocations to promote the development and application of new products and technologies. We hereby inform you that we will stop providing support services for the following products and their accessories starting on September 30, 2022.
Product Information:
Product Name Production Suspension Time Service Suspension Time Phantom 2（2.4G） July 2017 September 30,2022 Phantom 3 4K April 2017 September 30,2022 As of the date of service suspension, we will no longer provide you with services for these products involving product inquiries, technical support, and product maintenance. We apologize for any inconveniences this may cause.
If you are still using any of the above products, we sincerely recommend that you upgrade it to an alternative product of a new model, so that you can enjoy our more recent and improved technologies, and we can then continue to provide you with efficient service.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us for assistance through our online support page on DJI’s official website. Thank you for your understanding and support.
If you’re still flying a Phantom 2 or Phantom 3 and think it needs to get the once-over from the DJI engineers, then you’re going to have to get it done quickly because in a couple of months you’ll be out of luck. In some parts of the world, you might be out of luck already if they don’t have any replacement parts you might need available.
There’s no mention of anything happening to the Phantom 4 series of drones yet, not even a discontinuation, let alone dropping of support, so I think if you’re flying one of these, you’ll be safe for a while.
Looks like it’s time to finally upgrade yourself to a Mavic or Mini (or an Autel – just sayin’)!
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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5 responses to “DJI to drop support for some Phantom drones from the end of September”
The most important thing in life will alwaus be family
Let’s support other drone products other than Dji, alot of drone products are more better than DJI nowadays , i had supported Dji for almost 12yrs but no support from them ever since, i had supported HolyStone for a year and they supported me unlimitedly…
This is what companies do with old, out dated models. Next.
Where was it suggested otherwise?
This is what’s wrong with modern electronics… planned obsolescence. Cars that were built in the 50s and 60s can still be found in today’s roads and highways. If you had cassette tapes or vinyl records, you’d still be able to play them if you could find a working cassette deck or record player and, if it wasn’t working, it wouldn’t be too difficult to find an electrician that could repair it. But even if you were proficient in coding, you’d be hard pressed to develop a code for a gadget once a company decides to stop supporting the app needed to run it.