The mysterious Sony Airpeak drone was first shown at CES 2021 – and it is not quite the rival DJI we expected.
Sony first announced the design of the Airpeak drone in November 2020, but did not reveal any images or details about the type of flying machine it had in stock. Well, now we saw some short videos of Airpeak in action at CES 2021 – and it is fair to say that it is aimed at the cutting edge professional market.
What we are seeing is a professional rival like the DJI Inspire 2, rather than affordable consumer drones like the DJI Mavic Air 2. This may disappoint amateur aviators, but professional aerial videographers will be salivating at the prospect of a Sony A7S flight. III, which is the camera that the Airpeak drone is shown carrying through the air.
In its brief announcement, Sony said it would launch a new business focused on “professional video and photo production” in the first half of 2021. While the Airpeak drone looks scary and intimidating in the way professional drones often do, according to Sony is “the smallest class of drones in the industry that can be equipped with the Alpha system”, which means aerial photography and full-frame video.
According to the demo video, Airpeak is capable of capturing spectacular videos while traveling at very high speeds – in Sony’s first teaser, the drone is shown following a prototype Sony Vision S car on a race track.
The only other details we can get from the video are that the Airpeak has a quadcopter design and some impressive landing gears, which retract after takeoff. The video also reveals that Airpeak will be a seriously expensive kit, although Sony has yet to reveal anything about price or availability.
Phase one?
Although Sony revealed few details about Airpeak, the video and press release answered the main question we had about the project – would it be a consumer drone or a cutting-edge tool for filmmakers? There is no doubt that the Airpeak is now geared towards the latter.
This is a little disappointing for those of us who expected Sony to face DJI in the consumer drone market, giving us aerial versions of its more affordable cameras, like the Sony RX100 series.
But there is still hope. At its Airpeak launch at CES 2021, Sony says its professional photo and video tool would be “the first phase of this project”. Does this mean that the Airpeak brand can eventually be used on more affordable drones that can compete with names like the DJI Mavic 2 Pro? It is possible, although it is a little distant.
Starting with a professional drone makes a lot of sense for Sony – this is the market that its biggest land-based cameras, like the Sony A7S III and Sony A7R IV, are increasingly targeting. In addition, not only are the margins on high-end drones far greater than their amateur counterparts, but Airpeak fits perfectly into Sony’s position as a leading entertainment brand for professional filmmakers and aspiring creators.
For now, then, it looks like DJI and Skydio will continue to reign in the affordable drone market – but Sony Airpeak is certainly gearing up to be an immensely impressive new competitor at higher altitudes.
- Check out all TechRadar’s CES 2021 roof. We are remotely covering the program online only to bring you all the news and technology launches, as well as a handful of practical reviews.