Is DJI about to Release a New Drone? FCC Filing for New RC Plus Fuels Launch Rumors

DJI outdid itself last year on the product release front, even for a company that always seems to be launching new drones and cameras.

In 2021, DJI released the Mavic 3, the DJI FPV, the Air 2S, and the Mini SE. It also released the Ronin 4D camera system and the Action 2 camera.

Despite all these releases, the company shows no signs of slowing down in 2022.

Rumors recently circulated that we might see an Inspire 3 this year, since DJI has officially discontinued the Inspire 2. And now a new FCC filing for a remote control called the DJI RC Plus (or DJI Remote Controller Plus) is driving speculation that the company is getting ready to release yet another drone.

What Drone Will DJI Release?

The buzz in the drone industry is that the new remote control is probably for DJI’s new agriculture drones, the Agras T40 and the Agras T20P. 

Credit: DJI

The two drones were released at the end of last year in China only (yes, after that long line of products listed above DJI still released two more drones before closing out 2021).

At the time of their release, DJI didn’t indicate when the new drones would be for sale in the U.S.—but this FCC filing could be a sign that they’ll be available here soon.

Adding credence to this speculation is the fact that the picture of the RC Plus included in the FCC filing looks very similar to the remote control that comes with the Agras T40 and Agras T20P.

Take a look:

The RC Plus

The Agras T40 and Agras T20P remote  control

Check out this dialogue on the Mavic Pilots forum for further discussion on why the remote in the FCC filing looks like it may be made for the T40 and T20P.

About the Agras T40 and T2oP

Both the T40 and the T20P are agriculture-specific drones made for two main purposes:

• Mapping and surveying to help farmers manage large plots of land.
• Spraying and spreading to help farmers cultivate their crops.

The T40 has an enhanced spreading capacity of 110 pounds and a souped-up spraying capacity of 88 pounds (compare this to the T30, which has a spreading capacity of 77 pounds and a spraying capacity of 66 pounds). This larger capacity means the T40 can spray pesticides over a 320-acre field in just an hour.

The T20P is a smaller, more compact drone that comes with a spreading capacity of 55 pounds and a spraying capacity of 44 pounds.

About the RC Plus Remote Control

Whether or not the RC Plus is for the Agras T40 and the Agras T20P, there’s still a fair amount of information about it that we can get from the FCC filing.

Label included with the RC Plus FCC filing

Here’s everything we know about the RC Plus so far:

• It is fairly large, and looks similar to some of the remote controls we’ve seen for older DJI models.
• It takes two batteries, each of which run at 7.2v with a capacity of 3,250 mAh.
• Its battery life will probably be around three hours.
• It will probably have several programmable buttons that can be preset with shortcuts.
• It will probably have a transmission range of about 4.5 miles.

DJI also released a new remote with the DJI Mavic 3 Cine, which is called the RC Pro. The RC Plus seems positioned as more of a mid-grade option, with the RC Pro above it, but it’s still shaping up to be a solid prosumer remote control.

The good news is we won’t have to wait long to find out which drone the RC Plus is for—most likely, DJI will make the news public within the next few months.

Other Rumored DJI Launches for 2022

When we wrote about DJI products rumored for release in 2022 toward the end of last year, the Agras T40 and T40P didn’t even make the list.

Here are the drones that did, listed according to their rumored release dates:

• April—DJI Mini 3
• June—DJI RS3, RSC3
• July—DJI FPV Mini
• September—DJ Inspire 3
• November—DJI Pocket 3