DJI has finally issued a statement regarding the iconic Phantom 4 drone. The short version is that it's unavailable simply due to a parts shortage.
To be more specific, the company officially went on record to dispel any and all rumors about the Phantom 4's apparent discontinuation. Apart from which, it also shared some thoughts about a rumored new model that is supposedly called the Phantom 5 to clear things up about its prosumer drone lineup.
According to a statement issued to The Verge, the company is currently unable to offer the widely popular Phantom 4 for sale anywhere mainly due to a lack of available parts from one of its suppliers.
The Cause For The Phantom 4 Absence
"Due to a shortage of parts from a supplier, DJI is unable to manufacture more Phantom 4 Pro V2.0 drones until further notice," said Adam Lisberg, DJI's communications director. "We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause and recommend our customers explore DJI's Mavic series drones as an alternative solution to serve their needs."
This kind of thing often happens with hardware companies, so DJI's stated reason for the Phantom 4's lack of availability is certainly not out of the realm of possibility. With that said, the company does indeed have new drone models which are currently available, so at least prospective buyers can pick DJI drone alternatives.
As for how exactly the idea that DJI has discontinued one its most popular products came to be, it can be traced back to a comment made by Romeo Durscher, the company's own Director of Public Safety Integration.
The comment from Durscher came as a response to a question regarding the DJI Phantom 4. In his words, the lineup has pretty much been deprecated except for the RTK model.
In Durscher's statement, he says that the entire Phantom line has come to an end except for one model. That is the Phantom 4 Pro RTK.
News About The Supposed Phantom 5
Rumors say that the Phantom 5 was supposed to come out but was then canceled; however, Lisberg said they never considered making one so there is nothing to cancel.
It should be noted that the line about the parts shortage as the reason for the Phantom 4's absence from stores is what the company has been saying for months now. For now, there's no word on exactly when, where, or how it will come back.
