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Comment by palata | Hacker News Reader

> That is to say, if you can make a drone for $200, and DJI puts one out for $50, you don't really stand chance

The situation was more that western companies could make a drone for $1000, and DJI would make a significantly better drone for $500. Were they both $1000, the DJI drone would still clearly be better.

I am not praising DJI for free here. I just think that we need to face the truth. There is no way to improve with denial.

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It's not like their drones run on Black Magic or Wizardry. Surely someone can just buy that $50 drone, take it apart, see what components they are using and how much their costs are, and start from there?

Yes, that's what we do!

But haven't we been saying this in the West forever: "the Chinese copy: they buy our products, take them apart, and just copy"?

Now we realize that they actually learned, and it was not straightforward. They are ahead in robotics, and we can't just "copy": we have to learn. And it takes time.

It isn’t clear they aren’t taking a loss on each of their drones. If they are, you c ant really copy it at the price point they are selling it for.

You keep commenting everywhere after ignoring what people are telling you:

Ignore the price, and the DJI drones are still way better. Even receiving a ton of money from the DoD, Western companies fail to compete with DJI greatly.

I think software and ecosystem is a big part of it, much more than just hardware

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