Leaked photos and a DJI teaser dated Feb 9th hint at upcoming DJI Mini 2 SE drone

This week sure seems to be one for potential announcements. We’ve got Canon expected to announce the EOS R8 and EOS R50 in the next couple of days, OM System is slated to announce their new M.Zuiko 90mm f/3.5 Macro lens, and Sigma’s releasing a 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art for mirrorless cameras. And all of those are expected this week. Well, now it looks like we might be able to add DJI to the list, too.

A teaser image has popped up online, posted to Twitter by serial DJI leakers DealsDrone, showing what is clearly a DJI Mini 2 SE, with a date of February 9th and an 11:30 (presumably the one in the morning – China time?) timestamp. Adding further credibility to the teaser, photos have leaked of what is purportedly the DJI Mini 2 SE drone itself, as well as its retail packaging.

With the recent release of the DJI Mini 3 (non-Pro), it seems surprising to expect a new Mini SE model with the number “2” in it. Of course, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a special edition of the Mini 2, just that it’s the second release of the Mini SE product line. Not much really seems to have changed, though, when it comes to specs between the two cameras. According to the retail box photos, we see 31 minutes of flight time (up 1 minute from the SE), 38kph (Level 5) wind resistance (same as the Mini SE), 2.7K video (also the same as the Mini SE). It also seems quite similar from a design standpoint, too.

One thing that is boosted from the original appears to be the video transmission range. That’s up from 4km to 10km. Given that in many parts of the world, you can’t legally fly beyond visual line of sight, though (with a hard limit in many places of a mile – or around 1600ft), it seems a bit redundant. Why does it matter if it transmits from that far away if we can’t fly that far away? And why would the Mini SE’s target market even want to fly that far away?

It’ll still weigh less than 250g, allowing it to fall under the minimum weight limit in many parts of the world. This means it can potentially be flown without any real regulation or restriction in a lot of places. Not everywhere, though, so do remember that, and research the places you intend to fly.

There’s no word on a price yet, although there does appear to be a Fly More Combo kit on the way as well as a regular minimalist package.

There doesn’t appear to be any word on a potential price just yet, although I can’t expect it would be that much different from the original SE, given that not much really seems to have changed. It looks like this is an iterative release to update the video transmission/wifi protocols. It’s probably not something that original SE owners might want to upgrade to, but simply an updated entry-level model for those just getting into drones.

We’ll keep you posted as we hear more.

[via DealsDrone]