{"id":7650,"date":"2026-09-25T13:54:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T13:54:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=7650"},"modified":"2026-09-25T13:54:54","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T13:54:54","slug":"insta360-smart-glasses-mirrorless-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=7650","title":{"rendered":"Insta360 conquered 360 cameras \u2014 now it\u2019s eyeing glasses"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n

It\u2019s right there in the name: \u201cInsta360\u201d makes 360-degree cameras, ones that film every angle simultaneously so you can shoot first and frame later<\/a>. It didn\u2019t invent the idea, but Insta360 has become so synonymous with 360 cameras that it dominates the category with 73 percent of worldwide marketshare<\/a>. It\u2019s preparing to ship so many cameras, it just spent $298 million<\/a> \u2014 more than GoPro\u2019s entire valuation<\/a> \u2014 on memory chips alone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

But as Insta360 sells its 10 millionth camera and opens its first flagship US store<\/a> in New York City\u2019s Times Square, it\u2019s thinking bigger than two hemispherical lenses on a stick. It\u2019s looking to challenge Canon, Sony, Nikon, and Fujifilm by becoming a \u201ctop imaging camera company\u201d or \u201ceven a tech company,\u201d cofounder Max Richter tells me \u2014 and it\u2019s experimentally building its own mirrorless cameras and smart glasses to get there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Insta360, also known as Shadow Stone or Arashi Vision in its native China, isn\u2019t targeting Meta\u2019s AI glasses or DSLR-wielding professional photographers just yet. Nor is it trying to replace the smartphone camera in your pocket.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"The<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Insta360 X6, on a selfie stick.<\/em><\/figcaption>Image: Insta360<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t try to fight against the rise of the smartphone in photography and content creation,\u201d says Richter. \u201cWe see that there\u2019s an opportunity between smartphone users and professional cameras \u2014 a growing trend that people want to express themselves,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

He tells me that if Insta360 were to sell a pair of smart glasses, \u201cwe wouldn\u2019t necessarily compete with companies on smart intelligent features.\u201d It\u2019d be about helping people conveniently capture high-quality images, not about an AI assistant on your face. And while that doesn\u2019t sidestep the \u201cpervert glasses\u201d problem<\/a>, there might be room for Insta360 to go about it differently, with headgear that\u2019s obviously<\/em> a camera instead of covertly spying<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Though Insta360\u2019s smart glasses ambitions haven\u2019t been widely reported \u2014 I could only find one brief mention<\/a> \u2014 founder JK Liu previously confirmed that two mirrorless cameras are already in development. One will have a shape that \u201cyou have never thought of before,\u201d Liu told MyNavi News<\/em><\/a> in August. (Liu reportedly became a billionaire<\/a> when Insta360 went public last year.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cWhen you think about mirrorless, for us it would really go into making it more convenient and making a camera that is really suited for a new generation of content creators, not necessarily what\u2019s already out there on the market,\u201d Richter tells The Verge<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

If Insta360 does expand into those camera categories, they\u2019ll just be the tip of the spear. The company has already been pushing into many other categories dominated by its Chinese rival DJI, including DJI-challenging drones<\/a>, gimbals and gimbaled baby steadycams<\/a>, and modular action cameras<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"Insta360\u2019s<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Insta360\u2019s current camera lineup, not counting its drone and professional VR rigs<\/em>.<\/figcaption>Image: Insta360<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

While Insta360 might be the 360-camera market leader with 73 percent share, it\u2019s a distant number 2 in other categories that DJI serves. IDC estimates<\/a> that Insta360 has 20 percent of the worldwide handheld smart camera market compared to DJI\u2019s 73 percent overall. Still, Insta360 is making significant headway: In Q2 2026, it had 43 percent of the detachable action camera market, 17 percent of non-detachable GoPro style action cameras, and its brand-new Luna Ultra<\/a> already has 6 percent marketshare in gimbaled cameras.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

GoPro itself, meanwhile, is a distant number 3 in IDC data, with just 3 percent of the smart camera market in Q2 2026, after shipments fell by half to just 200,000 cameras in the quarter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

It\u2019s not unthinkable that Insta360 could help challenge traditional cameras. The traditional market leader, Canon, shipped 4.5 million digital cameras last year<\/a> according to Nikkei data. DJI shipped 4.3 million cameras last quarter alone, according to IDC.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Insta360\u2019s new Times Square store at 1515 Broadway.<\/em><\/figcaption>Image: Insta360<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Inside Insta360\u2019s Times Square store.<\/em><\/figcaption>Image: Insta360<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Insta360\u2019s founders have explained that their grand vision is to become the robot cameraman for the world \u2014 not necessarily an actual humanoid robot, but rather an expectation that these devices can do more and more of the capture and motion and editing themselves, automatically understanding your intent using built-in AI tech.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The company\u2019s latest Insta360 X6<\/a> is another small step in this direction: It comes with an onboard AI model and enough processing to automatically create a highlight reel from your footage while the camera is plugged in and charging, and it\u2019s got a 2.0 version of a previous \u201cInstaFrame\u201d feature that can track and frame the person you select and automatically produce a video.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Insta360\u2019s also launching a new feature for the X6 that can create 3D Gaussian splats<\/a> with one tap in the company\u2019s smartphone app, for free. It takes an hour or two for cloud servers to process the video, and users will only get four free splats per month, says Insta360 spokesperson Caroline Chen, but early results look neat<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

It\u2019s not at all clear whether the United States will embrace Insta360 the way Insta360 has embraced the US. While Apple, Best Buy, and Costco all stock the company\u2019s products, that could change if the US government decides to enact a foreign camera ban \u2014 or if it simply decides that Insta360 is a drone company, like DJI, and pushes back on its cameras<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"Insta360<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Insta360 technically already has a headset \u2014 it comes with the Antigravity A1 drone.<\/em><\/figcaption>Photo by Sean Hollister \/ The Verge<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Insta360 already distanced itself from its drone brand Antigravity in the lead-up to the US drone ban<\/a>, which will theoretically prevent Antigravity from shipping any future drones into the United States. Its first drone<\/a> beat the ban by weeks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

As for Insta360, \u201cWe remain on the ground,\u201d Richter tells me. \u201cWhen it comes to drones, it\u2019s not something that Insta360 is working on,\u201d he says, suggesting I speak to Antigravity CEO Michael Shabun instead.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Richter says he\u2019s \u201cquite confident\u201d that he can continue to bring cameras to people all around the world, and that Insta360 will fully comply with any local laws, but admits \u201cthere are certain things that are out of our control.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

I ask: Would Insta360 consider hedging against future risk by manufacturing some products in the US? If the company was required to, perhaps \u2014 but there\u2019s no current plan to do so. \u201cWe would potentially look into it, but it\u2019s not in our plan or roadmap at this moment.\u201d He says the US is a key market, and Insta360 plans to be there for the long haul.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Follow topics and authors<\/strong> from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.<\/span><\/p>\n