DJI opened pre-orders for the Osmo 360 II in China on Thursday, August 7, at 8:00 pm Beijing time, and confirmed the camera will launch on August 13 at 8:00 pm local time. The reservation page went live three weeks after the first prototype photos leaked, and it puts a hard date on the second generation of a 360 camera that sold out repeatedly in its first run. The rest of the world waits, again.
DJI Confirms the Date and Shows the Design
The launch is official and dated: August 13 at 8:00 pm China time, which is 12:00 UTC and 8:00 am on the US East Coast, with reservations already open on DJI’s Chinese storefront ahead of the event. That much comes from DJI itself, not from the rumor mill.
Notebookcheck notes the reservation system works more like a purchase reminder than a true pre-order with money down. You sign up, DJI pings you when the button goes live. The teaser also revealed the camera’s design, which stays close to the first generation’s square-sensor layout.
Pricing has not been announced for any market. DJI has said nothing official about availability outside China either. Based on how the company has rolled out recent launches, coverage across the tech press expects a phased global announcement later this month, but that is an expectation built on DJI’s habits, not on a statement.
Replaceable Lenses Answer the Loudest Complaint
The single most requested fix appears to have made it into the new camera: lenses you can swap yourself when they scratch. On the first Osmo 360, a scratched lens meant a service ticket or a dead camera, because the glass was not user-replaceable, and 360 cameras live with their lenses exposed on both faces.
The New Camera, which first reported the Chinese pre-order window, calls the non-replaceable lenses the biggest problem of the first generation. Anyone who mounted one on a helmet or a drone and came home with a scarred front element already knows why.
A 360 camera without lens protection is a design contradiction. The whole point of the format is sticking the camera where the action is, and the action is exactly where glass gets hurt. If the swappable lens system holds up in practice, this one change matters more to working creators than any resolution bump.
Leaked Specs Point to 8K60 and a Bigger Battery
Everything below comes from leaks and pre-launch reporting rather than a DJI spec sheet, so treat the numbers as expected rather than confirmed. The consistent picture across the prototype coverage DroneXL published in July and the current wave of reports: 8K video at 60 frames per second, up from 8K50 on the original, and a 2,150 mAh battery replacing the 1,950 mAh cell.
That battery math deserves a closer look than the headline suggests. The cell grows about 10 percent, but the processing needed to push 8K60 does not come free. A bigger battery feeding hungrier silicon can leave real-world recording time flat or even shorter. Whether the Osmo 360 II actually records longer than its predecessor is an open question the spec sheet will not settle. Reviewers with production units will.
The reports also point to 27W USB-C fast charging, Wi-Fi 6, and NFC support. The NFC addition is the quietly practical one: tap the camera against your phone to pair and pull files, instead of the usual app-and-password dance. For creators moving 8K 360 files in the field, transfer speed is not a luxury spec.
The US Market Watches Another China-First Launch
DJI launching a flagship camera in China while American buyers refresh the page is now a pattern, not an event. The original Osmo 360 launched in July 2025 with no US sale, and the Osmo Pocket 4P repeated the script last week: global launch, no US price, no US date.
The reason sits in Washington, not Shenzhen. The December 2025 national security determination cut off new equipment authorizations for DJI hardware, and a camera that cannot get authorized cannot be sold. The New Camera reports the Osmo 360 II cleared its FCC authorization on December 21, 2025, one day before that determination took effect, which would make it legally eligible for US sale. DroneXL has not independently confirmed that filing date.
If the timing claim holds, the Osmo 360 II would be in a stranger position than the Pocket 4P: a brand-new DJI camera that squeaked through the door as it closed. Watch the August 13 launch and the announcements DJI makes in the weeks after it for whether a US price appears.
DroneXL’s Take
The 360 category’s real bottleneck is not in the camera. It is in the edit. Every 360 camera sold ships with a promise that you can frame the shot after you live the moment, and most buyers never get there, because reframing 8K spherical footage is a skill nobody taught them. They shoot in every direction, export something flat and overcompressed with a default preset, and quietly go back to a regular action camera.
I will say what I have said before: I do not fully get 360 cameras. When I tried the format, it was fun for exactly one kind of shot. After 28 years working behind cameras, I know the difference between a tool that changes your work and a tool that demos well in a store.
That is why the smartest money DJI could spend on this launch is not on the sensor. It is on creators who teach the software. Fund the people showing beginners how to reframe in DJI Studio in a way that is creative and easy, because the camera’s output is only as good as the edit the owner can actually produce. Swappable lenses fix the hardware complaint. Nobody has fixed the education gap yet.
The first real-world footage lands after August 13. That is when we find out if the second generation earns the wait.
Sources: The New Camera, Notebookcheck, Geeky Gadgets
DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Rafael Suárez.
