Is this the DJI Mavic Air 2?

Not even half a year after the launch of the DJI Mavic Mini, it looks like we might soon be getting a brand new Mavic drone. According to the leak, this could be our first look at what will become the DJI Mavic Air 2.

This new bit of leaked information comes from Twitter user OsitaLV (@OsitaLV) who, in their bio, states that they is a verfied drone pilot on DJI BBS (China). In a series of tweets, OsitaLV shares a couple of photos of what he claims to be the upcoming DJI Mavic Air 2.

If these prove to be true, there are immediately a couple of things that can be observed. First, the drone looks a lot less like the stylish Mavic Air which was a bit of a departure from DJI’s other Mavic drones. Instead, this new drone looks to be coated in the same boring grey colour that covers all the other Mavic drones.

It still looks like the Mavic Air 2 will be quite a small drone, but honestly size is hard to tell in photos like these so I guess we’ll have to wait and see on that. Naturally, the drone will still be able to fold but it seems to do so in a more conventional Mavic way than the Air did.

On top of that, it doesn’t look like the Mavic Air 2 will have its omni-directional antenna built into the the drone’s landing gear the way the original Mavic Air did. In fact, this landing gear doesn’t look like it’s capable of folding either, leading me to believe that if this really is the Mavic Air 2, it will be a bigger drone overall.

Other observable features on the drone seem to be the device’s new rear obstacle avoidance sensors, which is something I don’t believe its predecessor has. In addition, OsitaLV notes that the drone is equipped with “silence propellers”, whatever that means.

However, probably the most notable change shown in these images is the new controller. One thing many loved about the old controller was the fact that it was a tiny thing that could fit in almost any jacket pocket. With this new one, it doesn’t really look like that’s the case anymore. In fact, the new controller looks like a much bigger unit with a different smartphone mounting mechanism.

Instead of folding out a set of “legs” and mounting your smartphone under the controller, the new one seems to take a more old-school approach to let you mount the phone on top of the controller instead. Personally, I like having the screen/phone up there, but I’m not quite sure how the antenna will work on this controller. Besides that, if I had to give up portability for this new mounting position, I’m not sure that this is a trade I’d be willing to make.

Besides that, there really isn’t much else to decipher from these images—at least, none that I can notice. If you do spot something, be sure to leave them in the comments below.

In the meantime, it is worth noting that there have been no official information to come out of DJI just yet, so you should take all of this with a grain of salt. I would, however, love to hear your thoughts on this new Mavic Air 2, so drop that in the comments.

[VIA]