Summary of Key Points
This news uses the example of public phone booths that have “reborn” on the streets of Shanghai to illustrate a critical turning point in the GoPro Panoramic Camera market: panoramic cameras have not disappeared, but they have evolved from a rapidly growing “promising new category” to a niche product with limited demand and slower growth. GoPro faces three major challenges: the market is approaching its ceiling, the high growth expected for 2025 is actually the result of early demand release rather than the start of a new cycle, and competition has intensified (with DJI overtaking it in the Chinese market and smartphone manufacturers squeezing its profits). As a result, GoPro’s products are likely to shift from being necessary for everyone to being essential only for a specific group of users, such as skiers and cyclists.
1. The “Ceiling” of Panoramic Cameras: Limited Demand
The core value of panoramic cameras is the ability to capture 360-degree footage, which is useful only in fast-moving scenarios like skiing, cycling, and surfing. For everyday recording, smartphones and gimbal cameras are more suitable.
Data shows that the global penetration rate of new users for motion and panoramic camera combinations is capped at 1.94% (2.14% in China, not accounting for those who participate in multiple sports). By 2025, the global penetration rate will have approached one-third of this ceiling. In other words, most people who wanted to buy a panoramic camera have already done so; the remaining users either don’t need it or are discretionary buyers, meaning the number of new users is declining.
2. High Growth in 2025: An Illusory Boom
The projected 50%+ year-on-year growth in panoramic camera shipments for 2025 seems impressive, but upon closer inspection, it’s due to short-term factors:
- New products create excitement, bestsellers attract attention, and price cuts encourage hesitant buyers to make purchases early;
- Growth will quickly slow down in Q1 of 2026 (from 83% to 33%), and sales growth (20%) will be lower than shipment growth, indicating that while more cameras are sold, profits are declining (with prices for action cameras dropping by 11% and gimbal cameras by 12.5%).
This surge is not the beginning of a new cycle but rather a concentrated release of existing demand, followed by another encounter with market limitations.
3. Intensifying Competition: GoPro Outperforms in China
GoPro still holds a 68% share of the global panoramic camera market, but it has lost its dominance in China. In the summer of 2026, DJI accounted for 56% of the online panoramic camera market in China, while GoPro only had 42%.
Smartphone manufacturers are also entering the competition: they can treat imaging products as part of their overall ecosystem—selling action cameras may not be profitable, but it helps retain users. GoPro, being a specialized brand, cannot afford price wars. The lesson from GoPro (the pioneer in action cameras) is clear: its revenue plummeted from $1.16 billion in 2021 to $650 million in 2025 due to increased competition and price pressures.
4. From a “Necessity” to a “Niche Requirement”
Public phone booths in Shanghai have not disappeared; they have evolved into facilities with additional services like free charging and car-hailing functions. Similarly, panoramic cameras will continue to exist, but only for specific use cases:
- They won’t disappear completely—skiers and cyclists will still buy them, and content creators will need them;
- However, they won’t become mainstream products; they can only serve a limited audience and cannot be as essential as smartphones.
GoPro’s growth strategy must change: it can no longer rely on the overall growth of the category but must compete for shares among existing users, making growth increasingly difficult.
Conclusion
GoPro’s panoramic camera market is similar to the public phone booths in Shanghai—it has not been eliminated, but its role has changed. In the future, GoPro either needs to expand into new use cases or accept its niche position and survive through more refined operations. Otherwise, it may follow the same path as GoPro.