Mini 4 Pro/Air 3 SDK - can we please get a straight answer?
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DJI has officially announced many times that there are plans to release a SDK for the Air 3 and the Mini 4 Pro. I'm not going to link to each post, but roughly:
- around the end of 2023 and beginning of 2024, the expected release was on "the first half of 2024";
- around the middle of the first half, replies started getting a little vaguer ("we will release it but don't know when");
- recently replies are much vaguer ("a SDK may potentially be released").
- worse, some imply a SDK might not even be released ("we will focus on enterprise drones...").
Now, we know SDKs aren't rocket science. They're not an entirely new product full of unknowns that might delay the process. They're a straightforward process to build and if one hasn't been released yet at this point, it's because DJI didn't want to do it yet.
DJI is under no obligation to release a SDK ever. BUT... they do have an obligation to be transparent with the public. The announcements that a SDK would be released was official and purchase decisions were made based on them. Is DJI allowed to change strategic courses over time? By all means. But words should be honored. If they release a Mini 5 and say: "we don't know if we'll release a SDK for this one", then that's fine. But going back on their word about the Mini 4 is really disappointing.
I'm a student and hobbyist and I do mapping on a very amateur level. I will never have the money to buy a Mavic Pro or similar. The lack of a SDK for the Mini 4 just means I'll have to keep using my Spark for mapping. I bought a Mini 4 months ago expecting that we'd have a SDK at this point and that I'd to some mapping around my area during the dry season which is about to end any time (which can be very helpful for fighting fires and even for rescue, besides studies in general). At this point I'm pretty sure I won't have the ability to map the region even though a SDK was promissed for 4 months ago. I'm seriously considering selling my MIni 4 and purchasing a Mini 3 at a loss to do that mapping. Why? Because DJI didn't honour their word.
So that's it. Can we please get a straightforward answer? Are plans to release a SDK halted? Postponed? Cancelled? Do we have an expected release date?
Cheers.
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Dear developers, Hello, thank you for contacting DJI Innovation. Sorry to bring you trouble, I am responsible for cloud technical support work, I have not received relevant notification information for your question. I hope our solution can help you, thank you for your email, wish you a happy life! Best Regards, Dji innovation SDK technical support -
Dear all DJI team,
Welcome back to all of you.
In the same idea,
I understand the priority is set on industrial products.
But remember it's necessary for us to develop on low cost hardware before starting to play woth a M300 :)
So please consider adding the mini 4 PRO to the list of supported devices for your "industrial" product as a necessity.
Thanks
Frederic -
Dear developers, Hello, thank you for contacting DJI Innovation. Sorry, at present, this channel only provides technical support for the use of cloud-related SDKS. For questions related to product design, please contact the product support team at support@dji.com. I hope our solution can help you, thank you for your email, wish you a happy life! Best Regards, Dji innovation SDK technical support
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