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Insta360, the Chinese rival of GoPro, recorded a 90 per cent jump in third-quarter revenue from a year earlier, as China’s leading maker of 360-degree and action cameras prepares to square off against drone giant DJI by the end of 2025. Shenzhen-based Insta360 said its revenue in the September quarter grew 92.64 per cent to 2.94 billion yuan (US$413 million), according to the company’s filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Monday. Net income for the period shrank 15.9 per cent to 271.9 million yuan, which Insta360 attributed to “substantial investments in chip customisation and other strategic projects”. Excluding those investments, the company said profit last quarter had improved from a year ago. Still, the firm’s total sales for the first nine months of 2025 increased 67.18 per cent year on year to 6.61 billion yuan. Insta360’s strong third-quarter sales results reflected investors’ confidence in the company, following its June trading debut on Shanghai’s Nasdaq-style Star Market, when its stock surged 285 per cent after raising 1.9 billion yuan in the city’s largest initial public offering in 17 months. Founded in 2015, Insta360 formally trades as Arashi Vision on the Star Market. Its shares closed down 4.63 per cent to 288.80 yuan on Tuesday. Insta360 led the global 360-degree camera market with a 67 per cent share in 2023, and came in second in action cameras behind San Mateo, California-based GoPro, according to data from Frost & Sullivan. The Chinese camera maker recently entered the drone market via Antigravity. Launched in July, the new drone maker said it was incubated by Insta360 in collaboration with third parties and developed by “a global team of engineers, designers and creators.” The A1, Antigravity’s initial product, was wrapping up testing and was expected to start initial sales in selected regional markets this fourth quarter, according to Insta360’s filing. In August, Antigravity said the A1 “meets regulatory requirements in most countries and regions” and would hit global markets in January. The A1 is equipped with a dual-lens camera system, mounted on both the top and bottom of its fuselage, and comes with a pair of goggles and a hand controller, enabling pilots to fly the craft using a drone’s eye view. In its filing, Insta360 said it would launch another drone business under its own brand, an initiative that it described as progressing smoothly. Cross-town rival DJI, the world’s biggest drone maker, had an estimated 70 per cent of the global consumer drone market last year, according to research firm Berg Insight. DJI, meanwhile, moved into the action camera field with the launch in August of its first entry – the Osmo 360, an 8K panoramic video camera. In response, Insta360 offered a price cut on its X5 360-degree camera for the first time. Data from Precedence Research showed the global 360-degree camera market would reach US$2.34 billion this year, up from US$1.82 billion in 2024.
