Tencent, the Chinese tech giant that owns League of Legends, Supercell Games and WeChat, the most popular messaging app in China, announced on Friday that it will release a consumer quadcopter by the end of October.
The Ying drone will cost $300 and offer the option to capture 4K video with the onboard storage or livestream it through a WeChat conversation in 720p resolution. It’s tiny, weighing less than a pound and able to fit easily in a backpack. Tencent reportedly teamed up with Qualcomm and Chinese drone manufacturer Zerotech to produce the Ying.
One can’t help but notice the design similarities between the Ying and DJI’s recently-released Mavic Pro quadcopter. Of course, DJI’s new offering costs more than three times as much, so there likely won’t be a whole lot of market overlap between the models. There’s no word on whether the Ying will make it stateside.
