Federica Laricchia
Research expert covering the global consumer technology industry
Consumer and commercial drones - statistics and facts
Want to record epic birds-eye visuals capturing the best moments of your life? Whether for a vacation or a wedding, drones are the right devices to do so. The term “drone” refers to any remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) of various forms and different degrees of autonomy, either under the control of a human pilot or with the ability to perform fully autonomous flights. Drones are continuously evolving, and so are the laws regulating their usage. Overall, the global drone market is forecast to grow in the coming years, reaching a size of almost five billion U.S. dollars by 2029. Furthermore, drones are deployed in many countries worldwide, with China and the United States leading the market.
Consumer drones are the closest to us
To name but a few, major drone market segments include defense, commercial, public safety, law enforcement, and logistics, to name but a few. However, consumer drones are those we are in closest contact with. This type of drone is often small and uses less complex systems to control and navigate compared to drones used in the defense and commercial sectors. One of the major drone firms worldwide is DJI (Da-Jiang Innovations), a Chinese company headquartered in Shenzhen. DJI manufactures some of the most popular consumer drone product lines from basic to advanced models starting from 350 U.S. dollars. The latest development in the consumer drone sector is FPV (first-person view) racing, where the pilot has an immersive flying experience through augmented reality (AR) glasses that display the live view through a low-latency drone camera.Consumer drones are the closest to us
To name but a few, major drone market segments include defense, commercial, public safety, law enforcement, and logistics. However, consumer drones are those we are in closest contact with. Such drones are often small and use less-complex systems to control and navigate compared to drones used in the defense and commercial sectors. Headquartered in Shenzhen, China, DJI (Da-Jiang Innovations) is the leading drone firm, holding three quarters of the market in 2024. DJI manufactures some of the most popular consumer drones, from basic to advanced models priced at over 15,000 U.S. dollars. The latest development in the consumer drone sector is FPV (first-person view) racing, where the pilot has an immersive flying experience through augmented reality (AR) glasses displaying the live view through a low-latency drone camera.
