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Comment by trimbo | Hacker News Reader

> devices now used extensively by the film industry.

It's not a big enough industry to support their valuation. Many companies have developed clever equipment for the film industry over the decades[1] and none has been valued at $15bn for it[2]. As an example: Panavision sold for $622M last year.

They really need to (edit: continue to) be selling to consumers. That said, I agree completely about their quality and success.

[1] - Check out some cool stuff here: https://camerarevolution.com/

[2] - Kodak might have been, once upon a time, but I can't find a breakdown of their motion picture revenue so it's hard to say.

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Yes, DJI literally shocked me when I bought the Mavic. They completely bust the stereotype that China is bad at design and innovation, e.g. "Designed in California, Assembled in China". Everything from the build quality, to the packaging, documentation, software, even customer support has impressed me.

They're like the canary in the coal mine, a wakeup signal for the Silicon Valley that thinks they're still on top because design and innovation happens here, and China is only for lower-on-the-supply chain stuff. If companies like DJI replicate, and China gets a few dozen Samsungs and Sonys, which become global brands and symbols of high quality instead of regional brands, one of the shining sectors of the US will have been caught with its pants down by misjudging their competition yet again.

I feel same for xiaomi.

Their hardware, sure. Software, not so much. Mi Home is an abomination.

MIUI OS seems to be liked by some, personally think it's terrible.

That said, they are one of the few phone companies left that allow consumers to unlock the bootloader, along with offering some stock android models with zero bloatware and monthly security updates.

Samsungs are worthless now if you can't install Lineage on them.

OS? xiaomi can create their own os? I suspect that.

When we say the word “system”, it means a lot of foundation of system design and practices.

China companies lag in system design, this situation is very clear now; Still the root cause of this lag is related to the outdated government system.

Don't Xiaomi sell their brand to other manufacturers? So devices are designed by Xiaomi with decent quality, while others fall short?

DJI is going through a rough patch right now via a $150m internal theft scandal. Even if they are catching up on tech pretty quickly, Chinese companies still have a long way to go in catching up with management and business practices.

True, corruption is one of the biggest problems in countries transitioning from developing to developed. Yes, we haven't quite fully cracked that nut either, but I think the issue is one of degree, not kind. There's probably some inflection point, where corruption crosses a 'herd immunity' like threshold, and the entire system gets sick.

> They really need to be selling to consumers.

Huh? I don't understand your point, as they DO sell to consumers, and are the best known drone brand as it is.

Sorry, yes I phrased that wrong. I meant they need to keep their focus there.

Their pro devices are excellent, though, and support a lot of commercial drone markets from law enforcement, to search and rescue to film to surveying. Why would they not sell those devices?

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