Another Best Buy Leak—DJI Mavic Air 2S Bought ahead of Its Release, Full Specs Revealed
BY Zacc Dukowitz
14 April 2021How do you know if DJI is about to release a new drone?
Because you find it on sale at Best Buy—before it’s officially launched.
This first happened with the DJI Mavic Mini 2, which was found accidentally stocked at a Best Buy ahead of any official launch announcement from the consumer drone giant.
And the same thing has now happened with the Mavic Air 2S, DJI’s sequel to the Mavic Air 2.
A photo of the Mavic Air 2S box from another recent leak
That’s right—a drone enthusiast recently found the Air 2S on the shelves at a local Best Buy and promptly bought it. The kicker? It was his first drone!
Unfortunately, DJI drones don’t work until they’re officially released, so all we can get from the video are the specs and the eye candy of seeing the Air 2S in the wild.
Watch the video below, and keep reading to get all the specs and details for DJI’s newest prosumer drone.
When Will the Mavic Air 2S Be Released?
Tomorrow!
According to another internet sleuth who saw the Air 2S at a different Best Buy, he was told it wouldn’t be on sale until Thursday, April 15.
This date aligns with DJI’s promotional materials. Right now, when you visit the DJI website one of its scrolling headers promotes the 15th with a vague tagline that reads “Get ready for the ONE.”
Well, it looks like “the ONE” will be the Mavic Air 2s.
What Will the Mavic Air 2S Cost?
Based on the information we’ve obtained, the Mavic Air 2S will sell for $999 and the Mavic Air 2S Fly More Combo will sell for $1,299.
The Mavic Air 2 currently sells for $799, so the Air 2S will give prosumers a slightly higher price point to consider when looking for a mid-level prosumer camera drone.
Here’s Everything We Know about the Mavic Air 2S
We’ve known the Mavic Air 2S was coming for a while, thanks to FCC filings from DJI for a “2S.”
And recently other leaks have started to fill in the details regarding what we can expect from this iteration of the Air. Since it’s a 2.0 version of the Air 2, we might have expected that it wouldn’t be radically different from the Air 2—but it’s still going to come with some important upgrades.
The two biggest changes from the Mavic Air 2 to the Mavic Air 2S are:
1. A big camera upgrade. The Air 2S will have a 1″ CMOS sensor with 5.4K video resolution (the Air 2 has a 1/2″ Quad-Bayer sensor).
2. It’s FPV and motion-controller compatible. It looks like the Air 2S will also be compatible with DJI’s new V2 FPV goggles and with its motion-controlled remote control, which was just launched with the new DJI FPV drone. But this doesn’t mean that it is an FPV drone made for racing or aerial tricks—just that you’ll be able to fly it FPV for capturing cinematic shots.
Now let’s take a closer look at all the specs for the Air 2S.
DJI Mavic Air 2S Specs
Here are the most important specs for the Mavic Air 2S.
General specs
- Weight. 1.31 pounds (595 grams)—compared to 1.26 pounds (570 grams) with the Mavic Air 2.
- Flight time. 31 minutes—compared to 34 minutes with the Mavic Air 2.
- Transmission distance. 7.5 miles (12km)—compared to 6.2 miles (10km) with the Mavic Air 2.
- Safety. The Air 2S will come with the AirSense system, which detects nearby manned aircraft with an ADS-B system. It will also come with two new obstacle avoidance sensors, which will be located on the front of the drone (see image below).
New obstacle avoidance sensors can be seen in this shot of the Air 2S leaked by @OsitaLV
Camera specs
Here’s all the information we have about the camera that camera that comes with the Air 2S:
- Sensor. 1″ CMOS, Effective Pixels: 20 MP
- Lens. FOV 88 degrees, 35 mm format equivalent, 22 mm, Aperture f/ 2.8, Focus Range 0.6 to infinity
- ISO range. Video 100-3200 (auto), 100-6400 (Manual)
- Video. 10bit: 100-800 AUto, 100-1600 Manual
- Photo. 100-3200 (auto), 100-12800 (manual)
- Electronic shutter speed. 8 – 1/8000 s
- Max Image Size. 20 MP: 5472×3648, 3:2, 5472×3078, 16:9
- Video resolution. 5.4k: 5472×3078 24/25/30 p
- 4k ultra HD. 3840×2160 24/25/30/48/50/60 p
- 2.7 k. 2688×1512 24/25/30/48/50/60p
- FHD. 1920X1080 24/25/30/48/50/60/120 P
Are you going to buy the Mavic Air 2S? Why or why not? Share your thoughts in this thread on the UAV Coach community forum.