DJI just dropped the Osmo Mobile 8 smartphone gimbal with a twist - it can now track your pets and rotate a full 360 degrees. The $126 stabilizer supports Apple's DockKit for broader app compatibility, but there's a catch: it's China-only for now with no international timeline.
DJI isn't wasting time with product cycles. Just eight months after launching the Osmo Mobile 7 Pro, the drone giant has unveiled its successor with some genuinely useful upgrades that content creators will appreciate.
The new Osmo Mobile 8 brings two standout features to the smartphone gimbal game: full 360-degree rotation capability and pet tracking. But perhaps more importantly, it now supports Apple's DockKit, opening up subject tracking to a much wider range of iPhone camera apps beyond DJI's own software.
"The Osmo Mobile 8 is currently only available in China, and we do not have an estimated timeline for other markets at this time," DJI spokesperson Daisy Kong told The Verge. That's becoming a familiar refrain from DJI this year as the company continues to face regulatory headwinds in international markets.
The China-only pricing sits at 898 yuan, roughly $126, making it one of the more affordable entries in DJI's stabilizer lineup. That's particularly noteworthy given the feature additions packed into this iteration.
The OM8's Multifunctional Module carries over from its predecessor but gets smarter. The side-mounted accessory still includes an LED fill light and doubles as a wireless receiver for DJI's Mic system, but now it can recognize and track both dogs and cats alongside human subjects. For pet owners and content creators focusing on animal subjects, this could be a game-changer.
What makes this particularly interesting is the Apple DockKit integration. While DJI's own camera app has long supported intelligent tracking, DockKit opens up these capabilities to third-party iPhone apps. That means creators using apps like Blackmagic Camera or other professional camera software can now benefit from automated subject tracking.
The hardware improvements aren't just software-based. DJI has strengthened the magnetic phone mount system and added a counterweight mount to handle larger smartphones or those with substantial camera accessories. Anyone who's tried to balance a phone with a chunky case or lens attachment on a gimbal will appreciate this practical upgrade.
