DJI and Insta360 split the handheld smart camera market as gimbal sales boom

Global handheld camera shipments jumped 57% in Q2, and DJI and Insta360 now split the market between them, controlling 93% of the market, but each dominating a different category.

According to the latest report released by International Data Corporation (Worldwide Handheld Smart Camera Tracker Q2 2026), global shipments of handheld smart cameras are booming. The category lumps together action cameras, gimbal cameras, and 360 cameras, and altogether shipped 5.88 million units in Q2 2026. That’s an increase over the previous year of 57%. Sales revenue meanwhile was up 50%, the cameras raking in $2.34 billion between them.

The numbers are impressive on their own, but an analysis of who dominates different categories is equally illuminating.

Gimbal dominance

DJI holds 73% of the overall market (4.28 million units, up 87% year over year), a lot of which is built on its command of the gimbal camera segment. Models such as the wildly successful Osmo Pocket 3 and now 4 have helped it reach a 60% share, with the likelihood that this will increase in the Q3 figures once the Pocket 4P figures get factored in.

Unsurprisingly to anyone who’s been paying attention this year, gimbal cameras were the fastest-growing category by volume, shipping 2.80 million units in the quarter, up 87% year over year. Interestingly, average selling price fell 6% to approximately $443.

Insta360 holds 20% of the overall market (1.15 million units, up 40%), which is anchored by 73% of the 360 camera segment. This sector is growing too, but much more slowly, up only 4% year over year to over 530,000 units.

Action camera growth

Action cameras, the segment both companies compete in most directly alongside GoPro, shipped 2.55 million units, up 47% year over year. Average selling price fell 4% to $338, with detachable models (up over 300%) driving growth far faster than fixed-form models (up 22%).

Again no surprise to people watching the market, GoPro’s position weakened across both categories it competes in: action camera shipments fell 49% and 360 camera shipments fell 61%.

It will be interesting to see how the introduction of the Mission 1 series moves the needle on that. Also shaping future figures will likely be the continuing restrictions on DJI products in the US market. Insta360 is pursuing this aggressively, as the opening of its new flagship store in Times Square, New York proves, and you would imagine the capabilities of its Luna gimbal cameras will start making inroads into the DJI hegemony at some point.

There is plenty to play for too. While IDC attributes some of the quarter's impressive sales to summer promotions, it also predicts that global shipments of handheld smart cameras will rise 20% every year, reaching nearly 41 million units by 2030.