SkyRover X1 may be a DJI drone in disguise, amid US soft ban on Chinese drones

In context: When the SkyRover X1 drone appeared on Amazon, it arrived with little fanfare but quickly captured the attention of enthusiasts and industry analysts alike. Priced at $758 and offering a feature set strikingly similar to DJI's well-known Mini 4 Pro, the X1 stood out in a market now conspicuously lacking official DJI drones.

That fact alone made its debut noteworthy as major US retailers and online platforms had largely run out of DJI products, leaving would-be buyers with few mainstream options and soaring prices from resellers.

The context behind SkyRover's emergence is unusual. Reports from outlets such as DroneXL and investigations by independent security researchers suggest that the similarities between the SkyRover X1 and DJI's drones go beyond the cosmetic.

Kevin Finisterre, a well-known hacker and longtime analyst of DJI's technology, found evidence indicating that the new drone directly interacts with DJI's digital ...