Why Is DJI Closing Its Education Division?

Just a few weeks ago, DJI quietly placed an announcement on several of its education-focused pages sharing that the Tello drone, programmable RoboMaster robots, and both its education platform and education solutions would all stop selling at the end of the year.

These products are core offerings of DJI Education, a wing of the company devoted to resources for STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) education.

At the time, DJI didn’t make an official statement—it just posted the announcement shown above. Which led many in the drone industry to start speculating: was DJI planning to close its education division?

Now we know the answer is yes. After more than 10 years in operation, DJI will be shuttering its education division for good.

Why Is DJI Education Closing?

DJI has confirmed that it’s shuttering its education division. But it hasn’t shared why.

When Sally French of the Drone Girl reached out to DJI at the end of last month, a DJI spokesperson told her:

Currently, the Tello series is still being sold in the United States, and we will continue to provide technical and after-sales support to the customers. We have been working hard to provide global users with drone products that meet different needs. We will continue to launch new products that are accessible, easier to use and meet entry-level or educational needs, so stay tuned.

This statement is almost a case study in how to say something without actually saying anything. But packed in here, as French first noted in her reporting, is the promise that DJI will “continue to launch new products . . .”

This could be interpreted as the promise to make more inexpensive, Tello-style drones and other educational products.

However, that honestly seems unlikely given the closing of the entire educational section at the company. Instead, we read this as DJI saying it’s going to put out other types of drones that may loosely fill the space currently occupied by the Tello.

 

So why is DJI closing DJI Education?

We suspect it’s about money. Right now, DJI is facing one of the biggest threats to its market dominance ever in the form of the new National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Buried in the 2024 NDAA is a sweeping ban on Chinese drones for use by any federal agency. Although DJI has already faced de facto federal bans for several years now, including the limitation of purchasing for some federal agencies to Blue UAS drones, this legislation will enact a complete federal ban, which has huge implications for the company.

A ban of all Chinese drones for federal agencies means these drones can’t be used on any federal land—even if that land isn’t connected in any way to national security.

To put this in perspective, Vic Moss, VP of the Drone Service Providers Alliance (DSPA), has shared that he’s already run into big issues as a freelance drone pilot with knee jerk bans of DJI drones on federal land.

Last year alone, Moss had three different missions scuttled because he wanted to use DJI drones. All  these missions were on federal land, and none were in areas that had sensitive infrastructure. (They were in a wildlife preserve, a residential area, and a national park.) And these issues were before the federal ban actually became law.

This is all to say that, with the new ban, DJI may lose a significant portion of the commercial drone market in the U.S.

Another factor in DJI losing market share is China’s new ban on exporting commercial drones. The ban applies to drones:

• With flight times of more than 30 minutes
• With attachments that can throw objects
• That weigh more than 15.5 pounds (7 kilograms)

This criteria applies to several of DJI’s most popular drones, including the Mavic 3, the Air 3, and the Matrice 350 RTK.

We haven’t heard much yet about how China’s export ban is actually impacting people’s ability to buy DJI drones in the U.S. But between the U.S. federal ban and China’s export ban, we imagine DJI is starting to sweat.

And given all of this, the company may be looking for places where it can save—which could be the motivation behind shuttering DJI Education.

Get Your Tellos While They Last

Right now, when you go to the Tello page on the DJI website you’ll find that it’s no longer available in the U.S.

Tello drones have been a go-to option for educators and first-time pilots for a long time. That’s because they’re inexpensive, easy to fly, and safe to fly indoors.

But even though DJI has stopped production of the Tello, there are still some available.

As of writing this post, you can buy a Tello on Amazon for $159 and a Tello Boost Combo for $119. (We’re not sure why the combo is selling for less than the drone itself—maybe that difference is tied to the demand generated by a shortage of Tellos?)

For now, it looks like there is still some stock left. But if you’re on the fence, we’d recommend pulling the trigger—with the news now official, it’s likely that any Tellos still on the market will be snapped up in the next few weeks.