DJI ends support for Phantom 4 drone

DJI's Phantom series of drones appears to be on its last (non-folding) legs, with confirmation that DJI has officially ended support for the Phantom 4 as of July 15th.

The move follows the ending of support for the Phantom 2 and Phantom 3 4K drones in September 2022, and the Phantom 4 Pro Obsidian Edition from July 1.

With support for the two Phantom 4 models ending, this leaves only 2018's DJI Phantom 4 Pro V2 as a supported Phantom model. However, this is currently out of stock on the dji.com.au website, although it can be found elsewhere still.

The move comes as DJI's Mavic series of drones, which originally launched in 2016, have surged in popularity with the majority of drone users.

The Mavic series' folding design and portability gives them a huge advantage compared to the bulkier and larger Phantom series, and this was before even smaller models including the spinoff DJI Mini 3 Pro. 

DJI has also remained tight-lipped about a Phantom 5, instead focussing on its Mavic and Air lines recently.

On DJI's website, a blanket statement explains the company's reasoning for product discontinuations.

"Because electronic products are affected by technological developments and changes in usage requirements, each generation of products has a fixed life cycle. In order to continuously provide you with premium product and service experiences, DJI regularly optimizes resource allocations to promote the development and application of new products and technologies. We hereby inform you that we will stop providing support services for certain products and their accessories through periodic assessments."

According to the company, as of the date of service suspension, it will no longer provide services for products involving product inquiries, technical support, and product maintenance.

The statement goes on to say that DJI 'sincerely recommends' that users 'upgrade to an alternative product of a new model so that you can enjoy our more recent, improved technologies, and we can then continue to provide you with efficient customer service.'

You can see a list of all DJI's discontinued products here.