Xiaomi's pocket-sized GoPro rival won't leave you out of pocket

Xiaomi's pocket-sized GoPro rival
Xiaomi's pocket-sized GoPro rival

GoPro has been almost solely responsible for defining the action camera market, and its latest models are as impressive as ever. They're also pretty pricey, which might be why Chinese powerhouse Xiaomi has spotted an opportunity.

The company has taken the wraps of its own Yi Action Camera, which retails at 399CNY - around £41/US$64/AU$82. GoPro's entry-level model, in comparison, will set you back £109/US$129/AU$179.

It records video at 1080p at 60fps, offers 64GB of integrated memory and weighs just 72g (compared to the 111g of the Hero). It's waterproof up to a depth of 40 metres too.

Eastern promise

The only downside: it's not available anywhere except China for the time being. Even with limited market availability, it's an interesting move by Xiaomi to try and undercut GoPro as well as the major smartphone makers.

Something Xiaomi can't offer is GoPro's extensive range of add-ons and accessories - although there is a special 'travel edition' that includes a selfie stick mount, as TechCrunch reports.

GoPro probably isn't shaking in its boots right now but for many people the 4K recording capabilities of the top-end models are overkill - that leaves a gap in the market for less capable and cheaper action cameras.

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David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.