Skydio CEO Adam Bry says his company will do more sales to US civilian customers than DJI this year, calling it “a pretty staggering fact” in an hour-long interview with Ti Morse’s Relentless channel published November 8, 2026. Bry recorded it inside Skydio’s factory, which he says will triple its output this year.

Bry also said DJI has copied “a huge number” of the things Skydio does, and that a battery-swapping dock adds value only “if it’s free and it’s perfectly reliable.” DJI launched its first battery-swapping dock, Dock 4, on October 14.

Bry Says Skydio Wins on Professional Sales Against a DJI That Still Sells Here

Bry’s claim covers US civilian sales only, and he says it rests on “the best available public data” about DJI plus Skydio’s own numbers. He stressed that DJI still sells drones in the US and competes with Skydio head-to-head, even though it cannot launch new models here.

He did not say which public data he used, or give a dollar or unit figure for either company. DJI, a private company, does not publish US sales figures.

Bry opened the interview by correcting his host, who said DJI cannot sell in the US. “This is not broadly understood,” he said. The FCC added DJI and all foreign-made drones to its Covered List on December 22, 2025, which blocks new FCC authorizations while leaving older models on sale. That is why the Dock 4 and Matrice 5TD launched in October with radio approvals listed for Canada, Europe, China and Japan, and none for the FCC.

Bry gave three reasons for Skydio’s lead. Skydio has “basically zero” consumer sales and, as he understands it, most of DJI’s revenue is consumer, so the comparison is fought on professional ground. He said Skydio benefits from an “overwhelming preference” among its customers to buy American. And he credited the shift from hand-flown drones to dock-based systems, which Skydio began investing in heavily around 2021, when there was no market for docks and the company was, in his words, “wildly unprofitable.”

Bry Says DJI Copied Skydio. Skydio Showed a Dock First, DJI Had Vision First

Bry said DJI copied Skydio’s fisheye, computer-vision-centric drone design, and that Skydio showed a dock before DJI announced one. The dock dates hold up. Skydio unveiled its Skydio 2 Dock in October 2019, and DJI announced its first Dock in March 2022.

Bry was mild about it. DJI products “kind of look similar today,” he said, adding, “that’s just the way it goes.” Neither company reached market much ahead of the other. Skydio’s 2019 dock led to the Skydio Dock and Dock Lite, launched in December 2022. DJI slated its first Dock, unveiled with the Matrice 30, for sale from the fourth quarter of 2022.

The vision claim holds up less well. DJI’s Phantom 4, launched March 1, 2016, was billed by DJI as the first consumer quadcopter camera to use “highly advanced computer vision and sensing technology,” which it used to sense and steer around obstacles. Skydio’s first drone, the R1, shipped two years later. Skydio pushed vision-based autonomy much further with its fisheye navigation cameras, but DJI was selling a drone that steered by computer vision first.

Bry’s verdict on the R1 itself was unsparing: “technology marvel but commercial failure.”

Bry Says Battery Swapping Costs Reliability, and DJI’s Dock 4 Bets Otherwise

Ti Morse recounted an off-camera meeting where, by his account, Bry said swapping would add about 5% to flight time in few of Skydio’s use cases. On camera, Bry said swapping adds some value “if it’s free and it’s perfectly reliable,” but the extra mechanism costs money and reliability.

Morse said several companies, “I think DJI included,” are building such docks. Bry did not mention Dock 4. DJI’s Dock 4 swaps the Matrice 5TD’s battery in 25 seconds and turns the aircraft around from landing to takeoff in 45, with a Task Relay mode that alternates two aircraft over one scene. Skydio’s F10 MegaDock handles continuous coverage with more aircraft instead: it holds up to five fixed-wing drones and keeps three in the air while two charge.

Skydio’s customers outside the military fly about 40,000 flights a week, Bry said, a number doubling year over year. The interview cites no published data behind the battery-swap estimate, so it can’t be checked from outside Skydio. US police departments can’t test the other approach either, because Dock 4 has no FCC authorization.

China’s Sanctions Cost Skydio Batteries, and Bry Says It Gained Flight Time

Bry said Chinese officials shut down Skydio’s battery supplier and seized its equipment on the day of the October 2024 sanctions, cutting Skydio to one battery per drone. Replacement cells sourced from the US and allied countries added “a couple minutes in flight time,” he said.

DroneXL reported the battery rationing in October 2024, with Dongguan Poweramp as Skydio’s sole battery supplier. Bry also disclosed an internal split. One camp at Skydio wanted to work with the US government to “get some relief here and maybe broker some kind of deal.” Bry said he took the other side, treating the sanctions as a reason to cut China out faster.

He called Skydio’s supply chain, now at what he described as zero China dependence, “still a kind of fragile endeavor.” Skydio plans to spend about $1 billion with US suppliers over five years, part of the $3.5 billion US investment it announced in April.

DroneXL’s Take

Bry said the rise of OpenAI and Anthropic has been great for Google, because a real rival forced it to focus. He wants Skydio “to be winning against the best,” whether or not DJI can sell in the US. I agree, and it’s the best line in the interview.

It’s also why the US sales claim tells us less than Bry thinks. By his own account Skydio is beating the best in a market where the best can’t ship its new hardware, while DJI’s battery-swapping Dock 4 is already being tested by Polish mountain rescuers. Morse opened the interview by recalling Bry’s talk of expanding overseas faster to meet DJI head-to-head. That’s the scoreboard I’d watch, because outside the US both companies are selling their newest drones.

Source: Relentless, “Outcompeting DJI | Adam Bry, Skydio” (YouTube, November 8, 2026), Skydio, DJI, FCC.

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