GoPro Max 2 leaked: KILLER FEATURE speculation!

A few days ago, there was a supposed leaked photo of what could be the GoPro Max 2.  Here’s my speculation as a 360 camera shooter since 2015 and 360 camera beta tester since 2016.

In his post about the GoPro Max 2 leaked photo, my colleague Vineet asked if this was too little, too late for GoPro.  Personally, I don’t think so.  In fact, I have such high hopes for this new 360 camera that I put my money where my mouth is by investing in a few shares of GoPro’s down beaten stock (but you probably should not, given its terrible financial statements).  Here’s why.

IS THE PHOTO RELIABLE?

The photo was posted by Quadro News, which usually posts leaks about DJI products, but does occasionally post leaks from other companies such as Insta360.  Their posted leaks have generally proven accurate, which is why I have high confidence the photo they leaked is either real or at least shows an actual prototype

WHEN CAN WE EXPECT THE NEW 360 CAMERA?

In GoPro’s Q1 2024 earnings call, founder and CEO Nick Woodman said that their next 360 camera would be delayed: “Due to the development process taking longer than expected, the launch of our new entry-level camera will push from Q2 to Q3 in 2024, and our new 360 camera will push to late Q4. This is expected to negatively impact revenue in the range of $65 to 85 million in 2024.”

WHAT CAN WE TELL ABOUT THE NEW 360 CAMERA ?

The photo shows that GoPro Max 2 has what look like cooling fins, which appears to indicate that it produces a lot of heat and may require a lot of processing power.  This could indicate that it uses high resolution or has processor-intensive features (see below).

The second notable feature of this camera is the position of the lens in the middle.  This is a departure from GoPro’s first 360 cameras, the GoPro Fusion and the GoPro Max, which have offset lenses.

As I explained in my video, this could suggest that the new 360 camera has a folded optical path that puts the lenses back to back, with the sensors to the sides of the camera.  If this is true, it should have better stitching than the GoPro Max.

The third feature of the camera shown in the leaked photo is that it is fairly wide.  Again, this is consistent with a folded optic design that puts the sensor on the sides of the camera.  It may also indicate that it has large processors.  But what would those processors be used for other than the higher resolution?   Again, see below.

The fourth hint is not in the photo itself but is in GoPro’s financial statements.  As explained in the video, GoPro has been bleeding cash for the past 2 years, yet it has not slowed down its research and development expenditure.  In fact, its R&D investments have increased even as its revenues have decreased.

If you are an action cam shooter, then you know that GoPro Hero’s cameras have only had incremental improvements from year to year.  The fact that they’re spending a lot of money on R&D even with only minor improvements to the Hero line of products may mean that their R&D is instead being invested in their next 360 camera.

KILLER FEATURE?

If GoPro uses Hero 12’s sensors in this new camera, then as I showed in the video, it may have a resolution as high as 9.3k, which is about 46% higher resolution than Insta360 X4’s 8k resolution (7680 x 3840).  It may also have higher frame rates compared to Insta360 X4.

But given that GoPro has invested literally hundreds of millions of dollars into R&D, the next 360 camera may have a feature beyond the higher resolution and higher framerate, which I speculate to be automatic in-camera reframing.  This would eliminate the biggest pain point of using 360 cameras — the need to process videos in a phone or PC to add keyframes in order to use them.  With in-camera reframing, not only will it be able stitch a 360 video and stabilize it in the camera, but it can also convert it to a non-360 reframed video with no need to connect to a phone or PC.    Again, I’m just speculating.

What do you think?  Let me know in the comments!