At this year’s IFA, a trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances, numerous leading technology enterprises displayed their newest products. IFA 2016 contained a number of popular Asian brands, such as TCl and LeTV, in addition to products from the U.S. and Germany. The drone industry proved its ongoing popularity at the event, as well-known companies like DJI and ZEROTECH brought their products to IFA’s international stage.

China becomes a drone industry leader

Thanks to China’s upgrade of its domestic manufacturing and information technology industries, DJI was able to take another big step into the American and European markets, after launching its Phantom series in 2012. At the same time, more and more Chinese drone companies are growing quickly and launching “must-have” products. DJI and ZEROTECH are both industry leaders in flight control, camera stabilizers, image transmission and more. In fact, several Chinese drone companies have climbed to the same level as U.S. drone company 3DR and French drone company Parrot.

Chinese companies take the lead in small consumer drones

2016 has been a good year for drone companies, and ZEROTECH attracted a lot of attention with its very first Pocket Drone, DOBBY. Drone lovers from all over the world became fans of this mini consumer drone. Other companies like Yuneec and Zero Zero Robotics also followed the trend, launching their own small consumer drones.

ZEROTECH’s DOBBY was the first pocket drone with a built-in Qualcomm Snapdragon chip. Weighing in at only 199 grams, DOBBY can be controlled via a smart phone and offers a number of intelligent features such as target tracking and 10-second auto track short videos. DOBBY will be available in North America and Europe in late September. According to FAA regulations, drones weighing more than 0.55 pounds (around 250 grams) need to be registered before flight. However, the lightweight DOBBY is exempt from this requirement.

The future of the drone industry is bright, and China is likely to remain an industry leader due to the country’s advanced AI and unmanned control technology. Companies like DJI and ZEROTECH have every reason to be optimistic about the coming years.