Less than a month ago, 360-degree cameras giant Insta360 launched a 360-degree drone brand called Antigravity, and today, Antigravity announced its first-ever drone — and it's a world first. The Antigravity A1 is the world's first 8K all-in-one 360-degree drone, slated for an early 2026 launch.
360 drones are brand new, and it isn't something DJI, HoverAir, Potensic or anyone else has done before. All of the best drones to date have been fixed field of view (so you need to point the camera at what you want to shoot). Insta360 is attempting to carve a niche for itself, hoping to dethrone DJI as the king of the skies — or at least put a dent in its legitimacy.
Antigravity is "incubated by Insta360" (fancy terminology for "spin-off brand"), and as such the A1 features the dual-lens 360-degree camera system from the Insta360 X5 (the best 360 camera around).
Mounted on the top and bottom of the drone's fuselage, these dual lenses capture everything around the A1 in 360 degrees. You will then be able to edit the footage down the line to set the field of view wherever you want it, not to mention apply cool effects.
The benefit? This makes the A1 much easier for shooting professional-looking footage. You don't need to actually track a subject, simply fly near it and do the rest in post. It's so easy, even a total drones beginner can come away with slick footage that would previously require a lot of practice.
Key features
The Antigravity A1 weighs 249g / 8.78oz so you don't necessarily need to register it with a governing body as it meets regulatory requirements in most countries. The drone is accompanied by lightweight goggles — similar to the DJI Goggles N3 — which feature head tracking, and a motion controller with "FreeMotion technology." Together, they give you intuitive control over the drone to make flying more immersive, according to Antigravity. You can even look in one direction while flying in another.
Utilizing Insta360's ultra wide lenses and well-established stitching technology, the drone appears invisible when viewed through the goggles and in the final footage, which provides a more immersive experience and a clean result. This is similar to the Invisible Selfie Stick mode on the parent brand's 360 cameras.
The goggles will have advanced safety measures so "users can freely explore their surroundings in real time with full 360-degree visibility." This means that you won't need to take off the goggles to see what's around you, providing a sense of safety if you're flying alone. There are also OLED displays in the front so your companions can see what you're seeing — and they won't feel left out. These are two features I wish the DJI Goggles N3 had.
I flew an early prototype of the Antigravity A1 a few months ago and I was highly impressed. It's basically a 360 camera mounted atop a quadcopter, and I found it extremely easy to fly with the controller and the goggles. Trust me, if you look straight down as the drone rapidly ascends, it makes you feel very dizzy!
Antigravity hasn't confirmed battery life or frame rates yet. Realistically, given what we know about Insta360's current technology, the drone's 8K video will be limited to 30fps. Firstly, Insta360 doesn't yet have a camera that can shoot at a higher frame rate than 30fps at 8K. Secondly, anything higher than 30fps will likely be heavily detrimental to battery life.
The HoverAir X1 ProMax is the only other consumer drone that shoots 8K/30fps video, while the DJI Mavic 4 Pro does 6K/60fps.
The Antigravity A1 (and future Antigravity drones) will use a customized and Antigravity-branded version of Insta360's desktop and mobile applications for editing and reframing 360 footage.
As the drone is still in pre-production, the video below was edited using a modified version of the Insta360 Studio desktop app. It's a solid piece of editing software, as we've seen before when testing Insta360 action and 360 cameras.
We've had no word yet on pricing, as this is to be confirmed closer to the public launch. Insta360 usually adopts a premium pricing strategy, even for products that are similarly-specced to rivals, so we wouldn't expect this to be a budget drone anyway, but that's especially true given the novel tech it's employing.
Other safety features
As is the case with most drones today, the Antigravity A1 features Return to Home technology, so you can hit a button on the motion controller to trigger the drone to return to its last known takeoff position. It hasn't been confirmed yet but I'm assuming this will also be the case if the drone is running out of battery. Two sensors are located on the front of the drone too for object avoidance.
There's also a payload detection system "to ensure the drone is used solely for exploration and storytelling," so this tech will prevent misuse or unauthorized modifications. Antigravity is yet to confirm the takeoff payload weight.
Who is the A1 for?
The key to the A1 is ease-of-use. It's designed to allow anyone — be they newcomers, casual users or experienced content creators — to shoot professional-looking footage with ease.
And it works. Reviews and cameras editor Peter Wolinski, who had never flown a drone before the A1, went hands-on with the drone at a briefing in Germany, and the footage looks super slick given this was his first flight. That's all down to the 360 tech and how flexible it is to work with in post. Take a look above.
Whether the Antigravity A1 has what it takes to compete with the best drones remains to be seen. I, for one, can't wait to get my hands on it when the time comes to review it, so keep an eye out!
Antigravity A1 is scheduled to launch globally in January 2026 with final pricing, bundle details and regional availability to be announced closer to the launch date.
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