DJI Avata 360 Launches Globally With 8K 360° FPV and O4+ Transmission — US Buyers Must Wait Until March 30

DJI officially launched the Avata 360 on March 26, 2026, the company’s first drone to combine a native 360° camera system with full FPV flight capability. The drone is available immediately for sale in China and on pre-sale in most other regions. American buyers are a separate story: DJI’s official website does not offer the Avata 360 in the United States, and a banner on DJI’s Amazon US storefront points to March 30 at 8 AM ET as the go-live date for US pre-orders through third-party retailers. For everything DroneXL has tracked on this drone from the first leaks through today, our definitive US availability breakdown covers the regulatory situation fully.

The official announcement is at dji.com/avata-360. Here is what DJI confirmed today.

Dual 1-Inch Sensors Capture 8K/60fps HDR in 360°

The Avata 360’s camera system uses two 1-inch-equivalent sensors — each with 2.4 μm pixels — that together capture full spherical 8K/60fps HDR video and 120-megapixel stills. That raw resolution is the working material. Pilots don’t compose shots in the air; they reframe in post using the DJI Fly and DJI Studio apps. A single flight becomes multiple finished shots.

The drone also carries a Single Lens mode that switches the camera to a standard forward-facing 4K/60fps FPV configuration — the same shooting style pilots know from the Avata 2. That tiltable camera module, switching between 360° and standard FPV mode, is the design choice that separates the Avata 360 from the Insta360 Antigravity A1, which is fixed in 360° mode only. One drone, two completely different workflows.

Post-production features in DJI Fly and DJI Studio include Spotlight Free (subject tracking with automated camera movement), ActiveTrack 360° (automatic tracking mode selection for moving subjects), FPV mode (adds a natural roll effect applicable in post), and Virtual Gimbal (infinite rotation and tilt from the 360° capture). GyroFrame lets pilots adjust and export reframed footage directly in the DJI Fly app. Internal storage is 42GB — enough for 30 minutes of 8K 360° footage without a microSD card. Wi-Fi 6 High-Speed Transfer moves 1 GB to the DJI Fly app in 10 seconds.

O4+ Video Transmission Pushes Range to 20 Kilometers

DJI’s O4+ video transmission system delivers 1080p/60fps live feeds to the pilot with strong anti-interference performance and a stated range of 20 km. That is the top-tier transmission spec in DJI’s consumer lineup. For an FPV cinewhoop flying close-quarters, 20 km of range is more ceiling than most pilots will ever reach — but the real benefit is signal stability in dense urban environments where lesser transmission systems degrade.

Compatible controllers include the RC 2, RC-N2, and RC-N3 for standard flight, plus the DJI RC Motion 3 and DJI Goggles N3 for the immersive FPV experience. The goggles deliver the 360° live feed at 1080p/60fps.

Replaceable Lenses Address the Biggest Complaint About 360 Drones

One of the most practical additions DJI built into the Avata 360 is a replaceable front lens element. Scratched or cracked lenses have been a consistent pain point with 360 drones (and action cameras), the cameras face up and down, making them vulnerable on every landing. With the Avata 360, pilots replace the lens themselves using the DJI Avata 360 Replacement Lens Kit (sold separately) rather than sending the drone in for repair. Jasper Ellens first reported replaceable lens pricing at around €25 per lens in early March.

DJI also addressed the landing vulnerability mechanically: the gimbal rotates on power-down so the lower lens tucks to the back before the drone touches the ground. Flight time is rated at 23 minutes. Note that DJI’s spec footnote qualifies most headline figures — including the 23-minute flight time and 8K/60fps — as applicable only “with certain camera modes or with specific accessories.” Real-world 360° mode at full resolution will likely run shorter.

Omnidirectional obstacle sensing is active even in low-light conditions (“nightscape” sensing per DJI’s spec language), and integrated propeller guards allow flight near people and tight spaces — the defining characteristic of the cinewhoop form factor that came through clearly in our early hands-on coverage.

Pricing Makes the Antigravity A1 Look Expensive

Confirmed European pricing opens at €459 for the drone only. The Fly More Combo with RC 2 and the Motion Fly More Combo (RC Motion 3 and Goggles N3) both come in at €939. The Premium Combo (Goggles N3 and RC 2) is €1,159. US pricing is not yet official, but our March 15 pricing analysis projected the base model around $489–$528 and the Fly More Combo near $999 based on DJI’s historical 15–40% markup over Chinese pricing.

The Insta360 Antigravity A1 — the only other 360° drone on the market — launched at $1,599. The Avata 360’s most expensive bundle undercuts that price. The Fly More Combo costs less than the A1 drone alone. That pricing gap will not be sustainable for Insta360.

What US Buyers Need to Know Right Now

The Avata 360 secured FCC equipment authorization on November 19, 2025 — 34 days before DJI was added to the FCC’s Covered List on December 22, 2025, under Section 1709 of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act. That timing means the Avata 360 can be legally imported and sold in the US. We covered the full regulatory picture in detail.

The catch: DJI cannot sell the Avata 360 through its official US website. American buyers will need to go through third-party retailers, with Amazon expected to open pre-orders on March 30. The 4G cellular variant (model DVN3XT) will not work outside China and is not the model coming to US shelves.

At roughly 400 grams, the Avata 360 falls above the 250g registration threshold. US pilots flying recreationally or under Part 107 will need to register the drone and comply with Remote ID rules.

DroneXL’s Take

The pre-release rollout for this drone has been genuinely strange — multiple teaser videos, a drip of specs without prices, embargo videos without specs. I’ve covered DJI launches since the original Mavic Air event in 2018, where you could hold the drone and ask DJI engineers questions on the spot. That hands-on format built real understanding of what a product was before words went public. The Avata 360 launch has been the opposite: controlled distance, staged reveals, maximized hype cycle. I get why DJI does it. The Antigravity A1 forced them to play catch-up in a category they should have owned, and they needed the buzz. Still, I miss the days when a launch meant something you could actually feel in your hands before writing about it.

On the product itself: the tiltable camera switching between 360° and standard FPV mode is the right call. A fixed 360° camera is a creative constraint; the Avata 360 removes it. Early hands-on reviews note the Avata 360 shoots 10-bit footage while the Antigravity A1 is limited to 8-bit — that gap matters for anyone doing serious color work. The A1 has the engineering credibility of being first to market and the weight advantage of 249 grams vs. Avata 360’s roughly 400 grams, which keeps it in the no-registration sub-250g category. But on imaging flexibility and ecosystem depth, the Avata 360 has the cleaner hand.

Expect the Insta360 Antigravity A1 to drop below $999 before the end of Q2 2026. The €459 drone-only entry price for the Avata 360 makes the current $1,599 positioning indefensible once reviews are in the wild and side-by-sides start circulating. Insta360 will either cut price or announce a successor — probably both.

DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo.