Chinese drone site Kanzhaji has gotten its hands on what looks to be pictures of a working fixed-wing quadcopter. It lists the specs like a length of 4.2 feet and a wingspan of 7.8 feet.
Meant to observe crops, the fixed-wing drone would have a battery life of an hour. That would be a pretty significant upgrade for DJI drones. To put an hour battery life in context, a DJI Mavic Pro Platinum, what the company calls its "best portable drone yet," gets a 30 minute battery life.
It could fly up to 656 feet, hit speeds around 45 MPH with a flight range of 12.4 miles, carry a little under 2 pounds, and cost "$50,000+," according to the Chinese site's leaks.
Any flat price point on an agricultural drone is a bit deceptive. Farmers often prefer to rent the drones for specific moments in a harvest as opposed to an outright purchase.
With those current specs, it looks simply average compared to current fixed wing agricultural drones like the eBee SQ. For $12,000+, the eBee SQ can fly for 55 minutes with a range of 25 miles. With the vast difference in price points, DJI would really need to bring something extraordinarily better than the eBee to market and five extra minutes on its battery life wouldn't cut it.
Nothing is certain until the product is unveiled, though, so don't expect DJI to rest on its laurels.
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