Leaked DJI Mini SE Could Be One of the Best Bargains DJI Has Ever Offered
BY Zacc Dukowitz
23 June 2021A recent tweet shows a picture of a DJI drone on the shelves at a Walmart for $299.
— Güçlü Atamer (@GAtamer) June 11, 2021
As you can see in the picture, the drone is called a DJI Mini SE. The catch? DJI hasn’t released it yet.
We’ve seen shelving blunders like this a few times before, most notably when the Mini 2 was stocked in a Best Buy ahead of its release and bought by a YouTuber who leaked everything about it.
But unlike those instances, where it looked like a single Best Buy had just made a mistake, Walmart currently has the SE for sale on its website. (Granted, you can’t actually buy it yet, but the page is clear evidence that this drone will be hitting shelves soon.)
Here’s Everything We Know about the Mini SE
If the Mini SE really will be priced at $299, it will be the one of the best bargains DJI has ever offered.
So it makes sense that it might be spotted first at a Walmart, since that price point is just low enough to make it attractive to folks who don’t know anything about drones, or even DJI itself.
Here are the specs for the Mini SE:
- Camera. 2.7K video / 12 Mp photo.
- Range. 2.5 miles.
- Weight. 249 grams.
- Flight time. 30 minutes.
- Speed. 12 mph.
Speculation on the web right now is that the SE could have been released to compete with Hubsan’s new Zino Mini Pro, which comes in under $500 at $459 and has some impressive specs, including 249 gram weight, 40 minute flight time, and a 6-mile range.
Whether that’s true or not, the SE is a great price for a DJI drone and is sure to find a market as an introductory model among those new to drone technology.
Is the SE Just a Repackaged Mavic Mini?
The first thing you might notice when you look at the SE’s specs is that they appear to be exactly the same as the original DJI Mavic Mini, which came out back in 2019—and not the Mini 2.
The biggest difference between the new Mini SE and the Mavic Mini is that the SE is $100 less than the original—a pretty significant drop for a drone that already had a low price.
But there could be a few other differences between the two drones, specifically when it comes to the controller and the plastic chassis.
New Remote Control?
One difference between the old Mavic Mini and the new one is that the SE might come with a new controller—the same one you get with the DJI Mavic Air 2 and the Air 2S—instead of the one that came with the original Mavic Mini.
But whether this is true is far from clear.
One leaked image we’ve seen shows the SE with the new controller and one shows the SE with the old controller, making it hard to know which is correct:
New Mavic Air 2/Air 2S controller
Old Mavic Mini controller
Small Improvements to the Overall Design
Another difference between the Mavic Mini and the Mini SE could be that the SE will have some slight but noticeable improvements to its plastic chassis.
These differences were pointed out on Reddit by a user with the handle mike-has-reddit, and first reported by DroneDJ.
Here are two images created by the Redittor showing some cosmetic differences between the original Mini and the SE:
Mavic Mini
Mini SE
When Will the Mini SE Be Released?
The rumor right now is that DJI will officially launch the Mini SE on July 15.
Given that this drone is basically a repackaged version of a drone DJI already sells, it’s likely the company won’t have a big launch event but will just start stocking the SE at Walmarts, Best Buys, and elsewhere at some point in mid-July.
If you’re on the market for inexpensive drone and you missed out on the Prime Day deals, it might be worth waiting a few weeks to see if DJI drops the Mini SE.
Planning to buy the Mini SE? Share your plans on this thread in the UAV Coach community forum.
