Insta360 Posts First-Half Revenue of RMB 5.516 Billion, With Over 1,200 Patents

On the evening of August 27, Insta360 (688775.SH) released its 2026 interim report. Revenue for the first half reached 5.516 billion yuan, up more than 50% year on year, while net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company totaled 30.4 million yuan. Since the start of the year, Insta360 has launched a string of products that have drawn strong market interest, including the Luna Ultra, the world's first 8K Leica dual-lens gimbal camera; the Luna Pro, the first 4K vertical-shooting gimbal camera; and the X6, a flagship 8K one-inch panoramic imaging camera. After their release, stores in multiple cities at home and abroad saw buyers lining up to buy them. According to the financial report, Insta360's cumulative global camera shipments have surpassed 10 million units to date, further consolidating its industry-leading position. As a global smart imaging technology company, Insta360 continues to expand its overseas footprint. In August this year, Insta360 opened its first flagship store in Japan, in Tokyo, and in September its first directly operated flagship store in North America will open at Times Square in New York, reportedly its first directly operated flagship store outside Asia. To date, Insta360 has more than 10,000 experiential retail stores and over 300 brand flagship stores worldwide.

Industry analysts note that the handheld smart camera market continues to grow rapidly. According to International Data Corporation (IDC)'s first-quarter 2026 report, global handheld smart camera shipments grew 33%, with Insta360's shipment market share rising 66% year on year. Moreover, penetration of the handheld smart camera market remains low, leaving ample room for future growth. Against this industry backdrop, Insta360 is using its high level of R&D investment to steadily strengthen an ecosystem moat built around "hardware + software + scenarios," consolidating its advantages and positioning itself to keep breaking through the market's growth ceiling.

Successive flagship launches push cumulative camera shipments to 10 million units

Since the start of the year, Insta360 has rolled out multiple flagship products that have attracted market attention. In the second quarter, it launched the Luna Ultra, the world's first 8K Leica dual-lens gimbal camera, which drew queues of buyers at offline stores in China and abroad right at launch. "Japanese residents line up to buy Chinese cameras"一度 topped the trending searches, drawing widespread market attention.

Insta360's flagship panoramic camera X series was also updated in August. On August 12, the latest panoramic camera, the X6, went on sale, delivering across-the-board upgrades in image quality, form factor and AI experience: dual custom 1/1.1-inch large sensors boost the light-sensitive area by 33%, enabling 8K/50 fps panoramic video and 120-megapixel photos; a proprietary AI model delivers automatic editing, while 3D Gaussian splatting generates roamer spaces with one tap. Its proprietary panoramic AI multimodal model, PanoMind, was trained on more than 10,000 hours of dedicated data spanning over 30 scenarios, including travel, daily life, skiing, motorcycling, diving and cycling. According to market sources, the X6 topped category rankings on major e-commerce platforms in China and abroad, including JD.com, Tmall and Amazon, within three days of launch. Then on August 20, Insta360 released the Luna Pro, its first 4K vertical-shooting gimbal camera, further broadening its handheld gimbal camera lineup.

With the new cameras hitting the market, Insta360's camera sales reached a milestone. The company has now shipped more than 10 million cameras cumulatively worldwide. Expansion into new categories and upgrades to existing product lines continue to support rapid revenue growth and a stronger corporate reputation. On July 2, Kantar released its "2026 BrandZ Top 50 Chinese Global Brands" ranking, with Insta360 making the list for the fourth consecutive year, rising to No. 18, up six places from last year.

Overseas Expansion Accelerates as Online and Offline Channels Broaden

As its product lineup continues to expand, Insta360's global sales network is steadily taking shape. According to its half-year report, overseas revenue from principal operations now accounts for 63.40% of total revenue from principal operations, and the company is accelerating its global channel rollout. Insta360 recently opened a flagship store in Asakusa, Tokyo, drawing market attention. Founder Liu Jingkang said the Asakusa flagship is not just a retail outlet, but an experiential space where users can experience imaging technology firsthand and find creative inspiration.

Insta360's direct-operated flagship store at Times Square in New York is expected to open in September. It will be the company's first direct-operated flagship outside Asia and the first Chinese imaging brand to enter Times Square. To date, Insta360 has more than 10,000 experiential retail stores and over 300 brand flagship stores worldwide.

Insta360 is also refining its marketing cost management and expanding offline channels through partnerships with well-known brands such as Apple. In July this year, Insta360 announced successive partnerships with smart device companies including Apple China, bringing its popular flagship products into more than 500 Apple authorized reseller stores at once. It has also established long-term partnerships with Costco, Sam's Club, Best Buy, B&H, Sundan and other retailers.

"Hardware + Software + Data"

Insta360 continues to invest in AI hardware and imaging software iteration, with more than 1,200 cumulative patents. In early August this year, Insta360 introduced an AI voice assistant on its thumb-sized Go Ultra camera for the first time, integrating the Qwen large language model and Google gemeni model. The newly released X6 panoramic camera uses a proprietary AI model for automatic video creation, while its 3D Gaussian splatting feature generates roamable spaces with one tap. According to the half-year report, Insta360 secured 141 new patents in the first half, bringing its cumulative total to more than 1,200. Insta360 has also partnered with leading embodied AI and spatial intelligence companies including AgiBot and Qiyuan Robotics. As application scenarios continue to expand, Insta360's imaging technology is becoming a key component of next-generation AI infrastructure.

"In the future, a type of hardware will act like a companion, helping people carry out automated operations and execution in this scenario. You just enjoy the performance and the scenery, as if you had hired a photographer to shoot everything for you automatically," said Liu Jingkang, founder of Insta360, at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) held in July. In the future, shooting and editing will be deeply integrated, and competition in the industry will no longer be about hardware alone, but about overall capabilities combining "hardware + software + data." At its 11th anniversary celebration not long ago, Insta360 said it would further combine hardware and AI technology to create an all-new "Cameraman" (camera robot). According to the company, the camera robot's core capability is to automatically frame shots, capture moments and produce finished videos for users, allowing them to truly immerse themselves in the present.

Insta360's in-depth software development has also drawn market attention and recognition. The company's app saw rapid growth in total users and activity: as of June, monthly users were up 67% year on year, while the total volume of files exported by users rose 126%. By the second quarter, the export rate of "Moment Pro," Insta360's cloud-based automatic editing feature, had climbed to 60%, and the number of paying cloud storage users grew by more than 124% year on year.

Profit pressure: raw material costs and phased investment in new business categories

Notably, Insta360 also said in its interim report that profit came under pressure in the period due to the combined impact of raw material costs and phased investment in new business categories. According to the interim report, Insta360 posted net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 30.4 million in the first half, down 94.15% year on year. On the one hand, amid fluctuations in supply and demand in the global memory chip market, prices of memory chips such as DDR continued to rise during the reporting period and stayed high, posing a major challenge to product costs and weighing on short-term profitability. In addition, the company made strategic purchases of memory chips totaling nearly RMB 2 billion in the first half, resulting in substantial cash outflows for procurement. This forward-looking stockpiling is expected to secure stable memory chip supply and costs for the company, providing strong support for future development. On the other hand, panoramic drones, as the company's new category expansion, are still in the market-education phase. Heavy investment in R&D, production line construction and market channel expansion has yet to generate economies of scale, and the phased spending has had a negative impact on overall profit.

In addition, Insta360's sustained high-intensity R&D spending has further squeezed profit margins. Financial reports show that the company's R&D expenses exceeded RMB 1 billion in the first half, up nearly 80% year on year, with R&D investment accounting for about one-fifth of revenue. That investment is already yielding positive results in category iteration and new product sales. Since the start of the year, Insta360 has launched a raft of new flagship products spanning panoramic cameras, gimbal cameras, microphones and other fields, winning recognition in global markets. Continued innovation will also deepen the company's technological moat, consolidate its advantages and support long-term development. Through ongoing technological innovation and AI empowerment, Insta360 is turning its hardware strengths into ecosystem barriers. Industry analysts say that when assessing technology companies, profit is an important metric but by no means the only one. The technology sector is characterized by high investment, high growth and long cycles, requiring a comprehensive assessment of factors such as the quality of revenue growth and R&D intensity. At times, compressed short-term profit may stem from strategically increased investment in technology R&D or market expansion, and may in fact signal long-term competitiveness.

       Original headline: Insta360 posts H1 revenue of RMB 5.516 billion, with R&D investment at about one-fifth of revenue and more than 1,200 cumulative patents