Will the Karma drone sales be enough to revive the GoPro?

According Recode’ source, GoPro will cut approximately 270 more jobs, or about 17 percent of its workforce based on its headcount at the end of last year. That’s on top of the 200 positions the company said it would eliminate in November. The recent job cuts were made mostly in the company’s virtual reality and broadcasting wings, claiming that “no one is left” to supervise the departments. Those cuts would certainly reflect Woodman’s CES assertions that GoPro is looking to shift its focus to a core set of products.

Just in case you didn’t know, GoPro cut 100 jobs in January 2016 and 200 more after the Mavic launch in November 2016. So the company’s workforce has shrunk by almost 25% since the beginning of last year.

GoPro primarily sells action-oriented cameras, but it recently made a foray into drones. The company’s foldable Karma drone is back for sale after an embarrassing recall. Some customers complained of a power failure that caused the aircraft to fall from the sky, leading to the recall.

Now the hyped Karma drone is back,how about the updated one?

Theverge has got another review unit.

As reviewed by Theverge, the Karma can’t autonomously follow you around. Its battery life is on the low end, and its range is much shorter than its main competitors. It doesn’t have fancy sensors to help it stabilize indoors or avoid obstacles. It’s akin to releasing a flagship smartphone in 2016 that didn’t have a fingerprint sensor or front-facing camera.

It concluded that the GoPro Karma is not a great drone by today’s standards. It’s basic, kind of like a mid-tier Android smartphone that checks all the boxes that more trailblazing units have established over the last few years. It may be a nice starter kit if you own a GoPro. If you don’t need a handheld stabilizer or don’t own a GoPro, there is no reason to settle for a drone with a spotty track record and a total lack of cutting-edge features.

Will the drone sales be enough to revive the floundering company? It seems that though the Karma drone is back on sale, existence of the DJI Mavic has completely blocked their way into the drone market.

Thank you for reading!

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