How much (do you think) it costs DJI to build an Inspire?

ace1 · May 9, 2016

Out of curiosity, what do you think? A standard setup with the quad, battery, transmitter, camera, chargers and case?

I doubt it costs them anywhere near the msrp to build.

World Media · May 9, 2016

Who gives a ************ frankly there are some many steps in the supply chain, each of which has to make its margin in order for it to be a plausible business that the manufacturer is usually the one that makes the least margin.
If you buy something at walmart for 100 dollars expect the cost of actual manufacture to be in the region of ten to fifteen dollars.

RaptorMan · May 10, 2016

The Inspire 1 Pro I bought in January for $4500 US dollars probably cost DJI in the vicinity of $1500 for component production and $1250 for engineering and software development. Add in another $150 for advertising and support costs. It's also likley they have to pay numerous other companies to license various things and that total might add another $100. So, total cost is ballpark about $3K and they probably sell them at an average cost of about $3500 to various distributors who then sell to dealers for, ballpark, $3850.

But, that would just be my guesstimate...

DJI almost certainly has higher margins on things like batteries -- instead of about 15% they probably make more like 40% on batteries.

Brian

Figbar · May 10, 2016

Double who gives a rat's ***. Think of the R&D and development costs with all of this. The turnkey system DJI provides us with incredible software and a rock solid platform like the Inspire is well worth the money. I've got all kinds of issues with lack of informed training DJI does not provide, plus their overall communication is lacking, but seriously,
the Inspire is an exceptional product. I was out shooting the other day in a heavy wind and the thing is like a friggin tripod. I've flown the heck out of my unit...I purchased the first batch out, and could not be more pleased. Bottom line...the Inspire is so worth the money. Just my opinion.

Frank508 · May 10, 2016

The 1st one cost millions.... after that, not so much.

Bryan Conover · May 15, 2016

Frank is the smartest guy in the room. Be thankfully they produce many of these.

The Editor · May 15, 2016

Bryan Conover said:
Frank is the smartest guy in the room. Be thankfully they produce many of these.

What, many Franks?

Bryan Conover · May 15, 2016

Ok...Frank Wang.

burlbark · May 28, 2016

RaptorMan said:
The Inspire 1 Pro I bought in January for $4500 US dollars probably cost DJI in the vicinity of $1500 for component production and $1250 for engineering and software development. Add in another $150 for advertising and support costs. It's also likley they have to pay numerous other companies to license various things and that total might add another $100. So, total cost is ballpark about $3K and they probably sell them at an average cost of about $3500 to various distributors who then sell to dealers for, ballpark, $3850.

But, that would just be my guesstimate...

DJI almost certainly has higher margins on things like batteries -- instead of about 15% they probably make more like 40% on batteries.

Brian

HAHAHAHA LOL....$3000 hahahaha. But it doesnt matter, the parts and material cost less than $300. I had a production board developed that cost $15 here in the US to have built. It was around a $1.50 in China. The engineers that they have on pay are making McDonalds wages at best. Havent you seen the firmware update process?

RaptorMan · May 28, 2016

burlbark said:
HAHAHAHA LOL....$3000 hahahaha. But it doesnt matter, the parts and material cost less than $300. I had a production board developed that cost $15 here in the US to have built. It was around a $1.50 in China. The engineers that they have on pay are making McDonalds wages at best. Havent you seen the firmware update process?

I've worked in the semiconductor industry for more than 30 years and know a bit about it. The X5 camera alone cost a good chunk of the parts count as DJI is surely buying there M43 sensors from someone else and I don't think there's that many companies actually making M43 sensors. Your estimate of $300 is not even close!

Brian

burlbark · May 28, 2016

RaptorMan said:
I've worked in the semiconductor industry for more than 30 years and know a bit about it. The X5 camera alone cost a good chunk of the parts count as DJI is surely buying there M43 sensors from someone else and I don't think there's that many companies actually making M43 sensors. Your estimate of $300 is not even close!

Brian

Its a 4 year old sensor..... They are giving them away at fire sale prices.

RaptorMan · May 28, 2016

burlbark said:
Its a 4 year old sensor..... They are giving them away at fire sale prices.

The Inspire Pro has been out for a while now so I would expect the parts cost to come down some. It's just possible that all in the parts are now down to about $1000 but I don't see it getting much cheaper than that. The engineering/development/software costs have now been spread over a pretty decent number of I1's so that to will be less but there is ongoing software work as well as support costs.

The sensor may or may not be 4 years old, but semiconductor production costs haven't dropped all that much in that time period though yields should have improved and that would lower costs. The rest of the camera, however, is only 8 months old give or take and since the i1 Pro probably still sells fewer than the X3 version the price drop via mass production isn't there yet by my estimate. Add to that the gimbal is also new and that's a bit of precision made hardware.

So, it could be that the cost has dropped by now to a bit less than $2K per i1 X5, but probably not a lot below that.

Brian

DesertWindAero · Jun 1, 2016

ace1 said:
Out of curiosity, what do you think? A standard setup with the quad, battery, transmitter, camera, chargers and case?

I doubt it costs them anywhere near the msrp to build.

Bernie Sanders...? Is that you?

DRONEONER · Jun 2, 2016

RaptorMan said:
The Inspire 1 Pro I bought in January for $4500 US dollars probably cost DJI in the vicinity of $1500 for component production and $1250 for engineering and software development. Add in another $150 for advertising and support costs. It's also likley they have to pay numerous other companies to license various things and that total might add another $100. So, total cost is ballpark about $3K and they probably sell them at an average cost of about $3500 to various distributors who then sell to dealers for, ballpark, $3850.

But, that would just be my guesstimate...

DJI almost certainly has higher margins on things like batteries -- instead of about 15% they probably make more like 40% on batteries.

Brian

$4500 wow you got ripped off. i got mine with 2 batteries in the 1st round of shipping and it cost $3200 Canadian..thats like $2500-2800 USD. the cost of a inspire can be worked out to about 600-1000 in parts so....

RaptorMan · Jun 2, 2016

DRONEONER said:
$4500 wow you got ripped off. i got mine with 2 batteries in the 1st round of shipping and it cost $3200 Canadian..thats like $2500-2800 USD. the cost of a inspire can be worked out to about 600-1000 in parts so....

You got an i1 Pro with X5 for $3200 Canadian?

As I mentioned in a later post the current cost is no doubt quite a bit less than it was in the first few months given the volume production and spreading engineering costs over a lot more units. If the actual cost today is something less than $2000 USB for an i1 Pro, and over time that cost will continue to decline, then the cost of an i1 X3 would be a lot less.

Typically, a retailer will have less than 10%-15% margins on items costing over a thousand dollars but that can be higher in some cases. They have much higher margins on cheaper items and in particular accessories. A retailer will buy from a distributor and the distributor is likely to see much smaller margins than the retailer -- more like 5%-8% on high dollar items like an i1.

So, I stand by my estimate of a total cost to DJI of nearly $3K at launch but, as I mentioned, over time the cost goes down. Frequently, when DJI or other makers lower there price as there costs go down the distributor and retailer maintain the original sale price (MSRP) but periodically offer at lower "sale" prices.

One of the reasons a maker offers new models about every year or two is to maintain the price point. The i1 has defined a price point between the Phantom series and the higher end Spreading WIngs models and I see them maintaining that. It's also a fact that some makers require the retail price not be lower than a certain point or even at MSRP. Some retailers offer things below the price recommended by the maker by they tend not to be "authorized" retailers.

Brian