The DJI Osmo Pocket Cannot Be Stopped
Since the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 launched in October 2023, it has been selling like gangbusters. Arguably, no single camera model has been anywhere near as successful as the Osmo Pocket 3.
In Japan, for example, more than one out of every three video cameras sold is an Osmo Pocket 3, according to the retail analysts at BCN+R. That’s incredible; traditional interchangeable lens cameras never experience that level of market saturation. Even despite the tariff-induced price hike from $519 to $799 in the United States, the camera is still selling extremely well, and is occasionally sold out.
As members of the PetaPixel team can attest, when attending industry trade shows or even just out in the world, an Osmo Pocket 3 is a common sight. The camera is popular among amateur creators all the way up to full-blown professionals.
The DJI Osmo Pocket 3 has been the right camera at the perfect time. As traditional camera makers desperately try to capitalize on the growing short-form video space and a world where just about every young person wants to be a content creator of some kind, DJI’s Osmo Pocket 3 offers a relatively straightforward and accessible solution. It is compact, simple to use, and it captures high-quality, stable video.
“It is a cheat code and it does make content production as a solo creator much, much easier,” writes PetaPixel‘s editor-in-chief Jaron Schneider. “It is a fantastic little camera.”
The Osmo Pocket 3’s specs are indeed impressive, although no single feature is groundbreaking. The camera is an excellent example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.
The Osmo Pocket 3’s three-axis gimbal works well, its Type 1 CMOS sensor records good 4K video, the phase-detect autofocus system is reliable, and the camera plays nicely with DJI’s ecosystem of accessories, including the popular DJI Mic 2.
But none of that is unique to the Osmo Pocket 3. In fact, many cameras have larger and higher-quality sensors, more advanced autofocus systems, and are compatible with gimbals. What makes the Osmo Pocket 3 stand out is that it combines all of that in a way that anyone can take advantage of, whether they have extensive camera experience or not.
But there’s possibly more to the Pocket 3’s success than that. Friend of PetaPixel Becca Farsace argues that the Osmo Pocket 3 is the “perfect camera for YouTubers,” who hold quite a bit of influence over the purchasing decisions of people who aspire to be big YouTube creators. It’s easy to see how this works. If I’m trying to become a professional content creator, I’m probably going to consider using the same camera they use, especially if it’s well under $1,000.
BCN+R’s Ichiro Michikoshi argues that the Osmo Pocket 3 is not only a mega-hit, but also that the camera single-handedly revived a sluggish video camera market. Immediately following its launch in October 2023, the camera achieved a sales share of 11% in Japan, and its momentum has continued to grow since then. Last month, the Osmo Pocket 3 hit a record-high market share of 34.1%. Since the month after its release, the camera has never had a sales share in the video camera market below 20%. DJI has ridden the wave to own over half of the video camera market in Japan. These numbers are unprecedented.
Even as smartphones get better at capturing photos and videos, people continue to seek more. The Osmo Pocket 3 delivers “more” without being daunting, especially expensive, or large, all while being super stable.
While full-frame interchangeable lens cameras are even better in terms of their overall capabilities, they’re invariably much larger, more expensive, and relatively complicated to use. Many people don’t want to jump through hoops, even if it means a better final result, and they certainly don’t want to spend many thousands of dollars to get up and running.
The Osmo Pocket 3’s continued success is also due in large part to DJI’s commitment to improving the product via firmware updates. Great post-launch support is not unique to DJI, but nonetheless the Osmo Pocket 3 has received major performance boosts, including firmware earlier this year that improved video quality, autofocus, and color rendering performance.
It will be fascinating to see how the Osmo Pocket 3’s incredible success influences its competitors, especially the major players in the camera space. Every camera maker has been trying to court the same audience as the Osmo Pocket 3 with traditional cameras. Sometimes the attempts are fantastic, too, especially for those who care about photographic capabilities.
However, the Osmo Pocket 3’s unprecedented success demonstrates that customers don’t necessarily want more of the same, and certainly don’t want to encounter any friction when turning their ideas into reality. While everyone else tries to figure out how to strike gold like the Osmo Pocket 3 has, the compact creator’s camera continues to pull farther ahead and shows no signs of slowing down.
Image credits: DJI
