According to the latest BCN Ranking in Japan, DJI made all 10 of the best-selling video cameras last month. Even by DJI’s lofty standards, that level of dominance is absurd. In the US, this dominance is under threat from legal issues and competitors alike.

The fact that DJI is a powerful force in the video and content creator camera market is not new. However, DJI’s market power in Japan makes the company’s position in the United States all the more interesting by contrast.

While DJI’s drones are most famously facing issues with the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which is now weighing a retroactive ban on DJI drones that it used to allow into the country, the company’s creator cameras are in trouble too.

The new Osmo Pocket 4P, an exceptionally impressive camera from a technological perspective, remains unavailable in the US, at least through official channels. The same goes for the Osmo Pocket 4. These two models alone, in their various kits and bundles, account for six of the 10 best-selling video cameras in Japan last month.

It’s a bad situation for consumers in the United States, and a worse one for DJI.

But it’s a very good situation for DJI’s largest competitor, its longtime Chinese rival, Insta360.

Insta360’s new Luna cameras, including the DJI Osmo Pocket 4P competitor, the Luna Ultra, are good. There’s no question about that.

They are also, for Americans unwilling to veer off the well-trodden path of authorized retailers and warranty coverage, the only new option. Xtra, effectively DJI with a mask on, is dealing with the same FCC issues that DJI is.

On this week’s PetaPixel Podcast, YouTube creator Becca Farsace came on to chat with Chris and Jordan about the DJI versus Insta360 battle, with Farsace noting that Insta360 has an incredible opportunity in its hands right now in the US market.

When asked if this Insta360 has a big chance to take a chunk out of DJI’s market share in the US, Farsace pulled no punches.

“Massive, yeah. And they’re going to take advantage of it, for sure,” Farsace says of Insta360. “The good news is that the [Luna] is a good camera.”

Loopholes aside, this is an unprecedented situation in a growing camera market. Never before have American consumers been locked out from getting their hands on basically all of the most popular cameras like this. Farsace is right; this is a big chance for Insta360. Whether the company will seize it remains to be seen.

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Image creditsInsta360, DJI