Sony may be shutting down the drone business altogether

Sony is planning to completely shut down its drone business. he is going out A statement from a consumer electronics company (Japanese) Outside. Accordingly, the sole drone, the Airpeak S1, will no longer be sold from March 2025. Sony justifies the move with poor sales figures.

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In 2020, Sony announced that it wanted to enter the drone market. Drone enthusiasts were skeptical that Sony would debut with hobbyist drones. But it was not so. Instead, the company launched the Airpeak S1 in 2021.

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The quadcopter is aimed more at professional users who want to take high-quality photos with it or make observations. The $9,000 price tag highlights the specific market segment Sony was targeting with the drone. Additionally, Sony only had cameras with Sony’s E-mount system on drones, reducing the user field even further. Apparently this wasn’t enough to get enough users excited about the Airpeak S1. Sales figures were very poor.

Last day of sale 31 March 2025

Therefore, Airpeak S1 along with almost all accessories will be removed from the market from April 1, 2025. This includes the drone itself, but also accessories like camera gimbal, battery charger and transmitter. After all, Sony wants to sell the propeller and batteries by the end of March 2025. AirPeak Base, AirPeak Flight and AirPeak Plus services are scheduled to end at the end of March 2030. The Airpeak Protection Plan will be discontinued at the end of March 2026.

There has been no announcement of any new drone from Sony. Sony has also given no indication that it wants to develop a new drone, which effectively means leaving this business area.

Sony entered the drone market quite unexpectedly, but has been unable to establish itself against competitors like Chinese drone maker DJI. Perhaps also because Sony failed to serve the market with consumer drones for hobbyists. Other manufacturers have also failed to enter the drone market for different reasons. This includes action cam maker GoPro.

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