DJI Avata 360 suddenly appears on a retailer site – but something doesn’t add up

When an unannounced DJI drone appears on a retailer’s website, complete with pricing and bundle options, it usually means I missed the announcement somehow.

That’s why the sudden appearance of the long-rumoured DJI Avata 360, the drone giant's answer to the Insta360-incubated Antigraviry A1, on a US retailer’s site immediately raised eyebrows.

According to the listing, the Avata 360 blends DJI’s FPV-style Avata design with full 360-degree capture, enabling you to “fly first and frame later.”

Multiple bundles are already live, including Fly More and Motion Controller kits, and the drone is even available with a small deposit for pre-order.

None of this would raise any red flags, but the fact remains: DJI hasn’t announced anything. There were no teasers on social media, no emails, nothing.

A drone that exists online, but nowhere else

The second issue is geography. The listing appeared on a US retailer’s site, which is an odd choice for a DJI product reveal at a time when the brand’s relationship with the American market remains... complicated.

DJI still sells products in the US, but major launches are usually handled with extreme care, particularly when regulatory attention is involved.

The images aren't quite right, either. At first glance, the Avata 360 looks like a DJI Neo with a 360 camera bolted on top.

Not the newer DJI Neo 2 either – the body design lacks the rear antenna details that differentiate the updated model.

In some photos, the lenses appear to face forward, which would make little sense for true 360-degree capture.

Of course, it's possible that the Avata 360 has a single-lens mode, as some 360º action cameras do, like the Insta360 X5.

That said, a top-bottom lens arrangement, as seen on Antigravity's A1, would provide far cleaner spherical coverage.

The rumour angle

To be clear, rumours of an Avata-style 360 drone have been circulating for a while.

Leaks and filings have hinted at a DJI FPV platform capable of spherical capture, potentially using dual sensors and a rotating or modular camera system.

But the retailer listing doesn’t back any of that up with actual specifications.

There’s no sensor size, no video resolution, no flight time, no transmission system, and no obstacle avoidance details.

For DJI, or any other drone manufacturer, for that matter, that level of vagueness is highly unusual.

Which leads to the uncomfortable conclusion: this listing may be jumping the gun, or worse, building a product page around rumours and mock-ups.

Fake, premature, or accidentally early?

Right now, the Avata 360 sits in an awkward space between plausible and questionable. The concept fits DJI’s roadmap, but the execution, at least in this listing, does not.

That doesn’t mean the Avata 360 isn’t real; it just means the version currently floating around online might not be.

Either way, the sudden appearance of a mystery DJI drone with no announcement, no confirmed specs and inconsistent imagery is too strange to ignore.

However, I would be extra cautious when pre-ordering a drone from an online retailer before the official DJI announcement.

[via DroneXL]