DJI announced last week the new DJI Mavic Pro ‘Platinum’ and the Phantom 4 Pro ‘Obsidian’ at IFA (Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin) Electronics Exhibition in Berlin. Both units have a slick new look for arguably the most versatile camera drones on the market. We’re wondering if it’s just a paint job with a fancy font (Mavic Pro Platinum) or is there a significant difference between the Standard Pro editions and the Obsidian and Platinum Pro editions.
What’s Changed – Mavic Pro Platinum
There are three main differences: Noise reduction, Flight time increase and a sweet silver facelift. There is no official price difference between the units as both have an official RRP of $1699. However, DJI has currently put the original Mavic Pro on a $50 off sale.
Going into detail about the noise reduction, DJI has detailed that the platinum will come with the new FOC (Field Oriented Control) sinusoidal driver ESCs (Electronic Speed Control) and 8331 propellers. This means the new propellers are more aerodynamic which will result in a significant reduction in flight noise (60% or 4dBreduction). The flight time has also been extended from 27 minutes to 30 minutes.
Accessories
Apart from the ESCs and the propellers, there has been no real internal or external hardware changes. This means that the original Mavic Pro accessories are all still compatible.
What’s Changed – Phantom 4 Pro Obsidian
Unlike the Mavic Pro Platinum, the Obsidian edition has no software or hardware ‘updates’ the only difference is the new Matte Obsidian skin on the Drone. If like me, you thought the original glossy white finish on the Phantom 4 Pro was too ostentatious your prayers have been answered with this new unit. The Phantom 4 Pro Obsidian has the same RRP as the original Phantom 4 Pro at $2,399 this goes for the Obsidian Pro+ drone as well.
Summary
In short, these new releases won’t cause a significant impact on the market like DJI’s ‘Spark’ did earlier this year. The obsidian is just a style preference while the Mavic Pro represents a firmware update but in Hardware form.