- The first leaked picture suggests that Lidar could debut in the DJIS Mini series of drones
- Mini 5 could get a larger sensor than mini 4 pro for better video
- DJI Mini 5 is jerked to be flight in August or September 2025
The first leaked picture of what is said to be DJI’s next Mini drone has been shared on Dronexl, a place operated by the prominent DJI leakage Jasper Ellens -and that could be the upcoming DJI Mini 5 Pro.
With the Mini 4 Pro, which currently holds the top place in our best drones buying guide, we are of course excited that its successor could potentially land – possibly in August or September.
The Mini 4 Pro is already the best available under-250G drone, and the best premium option for beginners-so which upgrades could DJI may have up on the sleeve?
I can think of a few improvements I would like to see, and the leaked image that shows that the drone being tested publicly in China seems to tease some upgrades that have made DJI fans talk – let’s look at what they could be and what hopefully comes in the rumor mini 5 pro.
I will tell you all about #Mavic4Pro in the coming days. But let’s appreciate this new #leaked image from the upcoming #Djimini5 spotted in nature. Are you as excited about this as I am? Will definitely buy this. Bowl! Jasperhttps: //t.co/izq5weleaqApril 24, 2025
1. Lidar for debut in the Mini series
In the grainy leaked image, Ellens has seen front facing Lidar sensors over the drone’s camera.
Lidar would give the rumor mini 5 Pro a more effective collision underpatient than the Mini 4 Pro, especially in the slightly light-lined, makes it a safer drone to fly during Twilight and at night.
DJI debuted Lidar in Air 3’s last year, and the Allrounder drone turned out to be better able to navigate obstacles and terrain at night than its predecessors equipped with standard night vision and object-sensing tech.
A potential Mini 5 Pro would be the world’s first under-250G drone with Lidar, provided it remains within the same weight class as previous versions more about this below.
As someone who loves to fly first and last light, and in areas with lots of points of interest, I would very much like to see Lidar Tech, but it is of limited need for users who only fly their drones in open spaces on clear days.
2. Longer and more stable flight
Larger engines have also been collected from the leaked image, which suggests a beef design and and potentially more efficient performance. This can be translated into better wind resistance for more stable flight plus improved flight times.
Improving stability and flight times could represent a significant upgrade in an area where the Mini 4 Pro did not improve its predecessor, the Mini 3 Pro. Some leaks suggest flight times up to 50 minutes, which would smash the Mini 4 Pro’s 34-minute flight time on a fully charged battery.
This improvement would be huge for a mini-series-drone-50 minutes is the kind of flight time I would expect from a more expensive and weighty drone.
3. A larger sensor
Some delicious also claim that the Mini 5 will pack a 1-inch sensor, which is a much larger sensor than 1/1.3-inch sensor used by the Mini 4 Pro.
A drone’s camera specifications are of great interest to me as a photographer and filmmaker, and a larger sensor can be the most significant upgrade in the next model – it must deliver a cleaner image in a dim light with better dynamic range, useful under bright conditions.
I would take better image quality in challenging light over higher resolution, but we could also see a shock to 5.3K video, which would mark an upgrade over the Mini 4 Pro’s 4K video, which is available up to 100 FPS. The larger sensor may be the springboard for some of the biggest video upgrades that the Mini series has seen yet.
4. A new direction to design?
Back to the leaked image again, which clearly shows that the drone has drift guards, like those on DJI flip. This would be a first one for one of DJI’s mini-drones, but just because the drone in this picture has drifting guards, that it does not mean that the final version will have them-cunne they just be a security measure for the drone’s pre-production testing phase.
Should a Mini 5 Pro have such a design, it could feel more like a flip 2. This would mark a new direction for the DJIS Mini series and the reaction to this option has been mixed. On the plus side, the drift guards are providing more secure flight in narrow spaces; But adding guards will affect the weight and flight, and many fans hope for a continuation of the existing duty design.
5. Not so mini anymore?
The key to the appeal to DJI’s mini-series of drones is that any model falls below 250 g, keeping them in the largely limited weight category and is a must for beginners and relaxed users.
But if the above speculation is true and the Mini 5 actually arrives with Lidar sensors, more intense engines and a larger image sensor, it would certainly make it a weighty drone than the Mini 4 Pro pressed under 250 g.
Could this upcoming model be the first DJI mini -drone to topple the scales over 250 g? And if so, would its rumor upgrades be worth the price of placing the drone in the next weight category?
Surely non-if there is a feature I would love to see in DJI’s next mini-drone, it is one that has been there from the beginning: a under-250g weight.
