DJI appears to be deep into testing the second generation of its 360 camera. Leaked photos published this week show a device identified as the Osmo 360 II being tested alongside the original Osmo 360, and the paper trail behind the images is more solid than the usual rumor fare: an FCC filing from December already describes the hardware in detail.
Let me be upfront about what this is. Nothing here is official, DJI has announced nothing, and every spec below comes from leaked images and public certification documents. The ban drama that dominated DJI headlines for months has cooled, life continues, and the company keeps building products. So we keep doing our job: informing you, in the most unofficial way possible, of everything we learn. That is the deal rumor coverage has always offered: you hear it early, clearly labeled, and we correct course the moment official word lands.
Leaked Photos Show Two Generations Testing Side By Side
The images came from Igor Bogdanov, who published photos of the prototype running next to the current Osmo 360, as The New Camera reported on July 17. Field testing a successor against the shipping model is standard practice late in development, and it usually means the hardware design is close to locked.
The stronger evidence sits in the regulatory record. A device with model number OQ002 cleared the FCC in December under ID 2ANDR-OQ0022512, passing emissions and SAR testing. The filing describes Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth and an electronic label, the kind of paperwork that appears when a product is heading toward shelves, not toward a lab shelf.
DJI launched the original Osmo 360 as its first square-sensor 360 camera, and the sequel appears to build on that foundation rather than rethink it. The leaked information points to the same dual 1/1.1-inch sensors carrying over.
A 10 Percent Bigger Battery Tells The Real Story
The one hardware change the documents confirm outright is the battery: 2,150 mAh in the new model against 1,950 mAh in the original, a roughly 10 percent increase. Reports of 8K at 60 frames per second remain speculation, and I treat them as such until DJI says otherwise.
Here is why that battery matters more than it looks, and it is the part most people get wrong about camera generations. When a company changes the processor and adds new capabilities, buyers assume the new chip does new things on the same energy budget. In most cases it does not. More compute pulls more power, and a battery that grows alongside the silicon is usually the honest tell that the internals are working harder. A 10 percent bigger cell for the same body is DJI paying the electricity bill of whatever the new processor does. In hardware this small, 200 mAh is never a rounding error. It is budget, spent on purpose.
The sensors staying put supports the same reading. If the glass and silicon up front are unchanged, the generation lives or dies on processing, efficiency and workflow.
The Launch Window Already Slipped Once
Earlier reporting placed the launch between March and June of this year. That window came and went with no announcement, and mid-July finds the prototype still in field testing. Rumored pricing floating around the leak community puts a base model at $499 to $579 and an Adventure combo at $629 to $729, numbers worth exactly what unannounced prices are always worth: nothing, until the store page loads.
The more interesting question is geography. DJI shipped the Mic Mini 2S in July without a US release, as I covered at the time, and the company’s US retail situation remains tangled in politics. An FCC certification means the hardware can legally radiate in America. Whether DJI chooses to sell it there is a separate decision, and recent history cuts both ways.
I have covered DJI’s leak cycles long enough, from the Avata 360 leaks in February to this one, to say the pattern here looks late-stage. Certification done, prototype in the wild next to the original, pricing chatter circulating. That sequence usually resolves in months, not years.
DroneXL’s Take
I think that the Osmo 360 does not need rescuing. I have heard remarkably few complaints about the original. The square sensor delivered, the image holds up, and the mount system plays nice with the rest of DJI’s action lineup. This is a sequel to a camera that mostly worked, which makes the sequel’s job harder, not easier.
So my wish list for the II is short and specific. First, the phone workflow. Offloading 360 footage to a phone and editing it there is still the weakest link in the chain, for this camera and for the whole category. If DJI wants a headline feature, make the transfer fast and make the mobile reframing painless. That fix sells more units than any resolution bump.
Second, low light. Night performance is where every 360 camera still surrenders, and a new processor plus that bigger battery is exactly the budget you would spend on cleaner high-ISO processing.
Whether the II launches globally or joins the growing list of DJI products that skip the US shelf is an open question, not a prediction. Watch the certification databases and DJI’s own launch calendar through the rest of the year. The prototype is already flying next to its father. The only mystery left is the invitation list.
Sources: The New Camera, Notebookcheck, T3
