Skydio 2 Price Increase!
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kgilbertsen
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Price of Skydio 2 increases significantly
Been saving for a $999 Skydio 2? Keep saving. The company has hiked the price to $1349, a significant increase. Find out more here:
dronedj.com
skydioconvert
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Love to be fly on the wall watching what will go on at the upcoming DJI marketing meetings....Price of Skydio 2 increases significantly
Been saving for a $999 Skydio 2? Keep saving. The company has hiked the price to $1349, a significant increase. Find out more here:
kgilbertsen
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I think those are happening as we text. I'm sure Skydio realizes the reactions this will cause and have decided it's worth the risk. Time will tell...
skydioconvert
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Best hand of poker in quite a long time.... going to be fun watching this play out.
This doesn't come unexpected, I think the S1 and 2 were loss leader's to showcase the technology.
While a gamble it was always in the plan. Skydio didn't try to compete with DJI like the others that failed. Skydio created a niche market with the goal to move into the lucrative enterprise market.
When it comes to AI DJI products are still toys compared to Skydio.
DJI marketing is like a toy, flood WalMart and Target with a month supply of product before it is released. Skydio has a long wait to get a consumer product.
It is a risky move, the S2 did it's job getting Skydio a foot in the door. Others were in a similar position, 3DR comes to mind and they blew it.
The Skydio guys are smart and seem to have taken a well thought out mission goal using the turtle and the hare strategy to get where they want to be.
Unfortunately they cannot control market forces which currently is favorable for them; security risks and OA are in high demand and is what they offer.
Raising consumer product prices may achieve multiple goals, first decrease demand for consumer drones which DJI owns. Allow more resources for enterprise and make some profit on the S2.
I can't imagine Skydio is currently making a profit with the S2 given the support and technical nature of the product.
I'm in close to $2k with my Mavic 2 with the extra batteries and accessories I purchased. My DJI drones stay on the shelf while my S2 does all the work now.
The prosumer market is volitile right now and I think Skydio wants to limit or exit the consumer field.
While a gamble it was always in the plan. Skydio didn't try to compete with DJI like the others that failed. Skydio created a niche market with the goal to move into the lucrative enterprise market.
When it comes to AI DJI products are still toys compared to Skydio.
DJI marketing is like a toy, flood WalMart and Target with a month supply of product before it is released. Skydio has a long wait to get a consumer product.
It is a risky move, the S2 did it's job getting Skydio a foot in the door. Others were in a similar position, 3DR comes to mind and they blew it.
The Skydio guys are smart and seem to have taken a well thought out mission goal using the turtle and the hare strategy to get where they want to be.
Unfortunately they cannot control market forces which currently is favorable for them; security risks and OA are in high demand and is what they offer.
Raising consumer product prices may achieve multiple goals, first decrease demand for consumer drones which DJI owns. Allow more resources for enterprise and make some profit on the S2.
I can't imagine Skydio is currently making a profit with the S2 given the support and technical nature of the product.
I'm in close to $2k with my Mavic 2 with the extra batteries and accessories I purchased. My DJI drones stay on the shelf while my S2 does all the work now.
The prosumer market is volitile right now and I think Skydio wants to limit or exit the consumer field.
kgilbertsen
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The fact that they are raising the price 35% would indicate they don't want to sell as many going forward, so I think you are right about them wanting to exit the consumer field. Unless they are planning on including some valuable extras come June 2nd.
frankbonatelli
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As was stated I too saw this company and its price point to be nothing more then a stepping stone to bigger things. They are now looking at the deep pockets of the military / police force budgets. I suspect this was the game plan from story boarding! Lets face it the dam AI is great and it is only getting better.
But what I want to know is were the hell are the duel chargers? Anybody know? I reached out to them in march and was told they are arriving mid April. Well that's long gone. Still nothing and Ive checked every day since January.
Ha its become my second thing in the am. Sip of coffee look at the store page nope no charger move on with my day.
But what I want to know is were the hell are the duel chargers? Anybody know? I reached out to them in march and was told they are arriving mid April. Well that's long gone. Still nothing and Ive checked every day since January.
Ha its become my second thing in the am. Sip of coffee look at the store page nope no charger move on with my day.
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If you haven't noticed there's little that hasn't gone up lately. Chip shortages are affecting almost every industry. I used to work at a semiconductor fab 7 years ago, they've been ramping down the site for years getting it ready to close. It's now getting a 2bn refit and it's game on again. This is great to see since we are also entering a space race with China, America is finally waking up to the fact that pumping billions into the Chinese economy isn't doing anything good for our country.
On the other Hand, my Mavic 2 Zoom does most of my Heavy Lifting over here especially flying at Night!
There are less costly lift drones out there but I agree the S2 is a dedicated AI drone.
The S2 likes to fly as designed, weight, cameras, firmware - fewest mods, the price to pay for performance.
DJI does many things good but follow is not one of them.
I agree with Ridefreak we need to bring America back, the Chinese have capitalized on our capitalism.
Remember Frank Wang was terrified of 3DR they were well ahead of DJI; so much so Wang tried to buy 3DR. Of course 3DR took themselves out of the market but Skydio is proving made in America means something. I hope high tech chips and other components come back to our shores, the current administration has highlighted our vulnerability.
Here's my M2 Zoom against the inexpensive Parrot Anafi:
The S2 likes to fly as designed, weight, cameras, firmware - fewest mods, the price to pay for performance.
DJI does many things good but follow is not one of them.
I agree with Ridefreak we need to bring America back, the Chinese have capitalized on our capitalism.
Remember Frank Wang was terrified of 3DR they were well ahead of DJI; so much so Wang tried to buy 3DR. Of course 3DR took themselves out of the market but Skydio is proving made in America means something. I hope high tech chips and other components come back to our shores, the current administration has highlighted our vulnerability.
Here's my M2 Zoom against the inexpensive Parrot Anafi:
The every day American didn’t export those Jobs to China, the Manufacturers did to get their products built cheaply to fatten their bottom line! However, the Chinese threw them a Curve Ball. They told those Manufacturers that if you wanted us to build your Products over here, you’ll also have to send over the Technology you used to come up with it-and they did! It saved the Chinese years and money in R&D so in effect, we gave them the Gun to shoot us with!
FliesDrones
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Price increase is due to fab issues... this is affecting cars and everything around the world, just google it.
Price increases are normally incremental, a few percent at a time. It's not often you see a $30k car go up $10k the next model year.
A 35% increase is a statement. Skydio should be realizing economies after start up costs lowering the price per unit. In addition the founders alluded to the S1 and 2 being stepping stones since the beginning.
A 35% increase is a statement. Skydio should be realizing economies after start up costs lowering the price per unit. In addition the founders alluded to the S1 and 2 being stepping stones since the beginning.
FliesDrones
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The global automative industry has shifted the cost of the fab shortage to go from 60b to 110b (a 50% increase in losses).
Source: Chip shortage expected to cost auto industry $110 billion in revenue in 2021
This 35% must be caused by related to shortages from Nvidia. The estimated comeback for chips is 2022, and a Jetson TX2 Dev kit is now $900 - $1200 dollars and I have no idea what a non-dev kit will cost since that's "confidential", however you can get a single units for $479 right now
Source for Nvidia: Inception Spotlight: New Skydio 2 Drone Powered by NVIDIA Jetson | NVIDIA Developer Blog
Source for TX2 pricing: https://www.arrow.com/en/products/900-83310-0001-000/nvidia
We agree to disagree. Certainly the DJI drones did not go up 35%.
The article you referenced says chips will be back to normal the 3rd quarter of next year.
A Jeep Wrangler went up about $300 from last years model, not 35%.
The article you referenced says chips will be back to normal the 3rd quarter of next year.
A Jeep Wrangler went up about $300 from last years model, not 35%.
FliesDrones
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The Jeep has thousands of chips but they use older 130nm fabs which are not as expensive.
The central thing that makes Skydio awesome is a TX2 chip which used to cost $399 per unit [1] and now costs $479 (roughly 20%). This is also a 16nm process which is a newer process [2] which are the affected fabs meaning it may cost more since you're bidding against others for output.
Source: NVIDIA Announces Jetson TX2: Parker Comes To NVIDIA’s Embedded System Kit.
Source: NVIDIA Jetson TX2 GPU Specs
Edit: This is a lot easier to realize when you think of Skydio 2 as "a graphics card that flies"... just compare it against RTX 3060 at MSRP $399 vs Street Price $1300+. You can't exactly crypto-mine on Skydio 2 but I would definitely have expected this to price hike and I am truly shocked that it was 35%.
There's no telling what anything else Skydio sources may be costing now. I have a speculation that Skydio R1 and Skydio 2 are being sold at cost / below cost to collect real flight data for the Enterprise Skydio X2 drones and the Autonomy Foundation but I can't exactly confirm that.
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I agree with you about the global demand for components. If you read between the lines a company official inferred the price increase was mostly due to component costs; however it is implied the S2 was underpriced to begin, given it's capabilities.
While component costs are a factor I think Skydio wants to concentrate on their $14,000 enterprise drones. Think of the tech support and bashing the company gets on forums from novice users. One professional drone with an experienced operator or 14 consumer drones with 14X the headaches.
At this point time will tell, but with such a dramatic price increase they will be less competitive in the consumer market, whether intended or not.
While component costs are a factor I think Skydio wants to concentrate on their $14,000 enterprise drones. Think of the tech support and bashing the company gets on forums from novice users. One professional drone with an experienced operator or 14 consumer drones with 14X the headaches.
At this point time will tell, but with such a dramatic price increase they will be less competitive in the consumer market, whether intended or not.
FliesDrones
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Yeah, for sure, but they want those 14 consumers going out there and getting data for them.
I would be willing to bet some money we'll get a "upload enough data, get a new free skill"
