(Credit: Jeffrey Hazelwood/PCMag; GoPro)
GoPro is in trouble. Its cameras are excellent, but its finances are not. This week, it filed a disclosure document with the Securities and Exchange Commission, warning that "there is substantial doubt about the company's ability to continue." This comes months after it laid off nearly a quarter of its workforce and just weeks after its board announced it's exploring a sale or merger.
At one point, GoPro was an unrivaled industry leader in action cams. The company invented the category, and rode a wave of success that peaked when it went public in 2014. After the first day of trading, GoPro was valued at more than $4 billion. Today? Its stock price puts its market cap at around $200 million. Not even the toughest camera could survive a fall off that cliff.
So how the heck did it get there? I've covered the company and its products for close to fifteen years and have some thoughts.
The Problem With Yearly Upgrades
For years, you could set your calendar on GoPro's release schedule. September would roll around, and it'd trot out a new Hero action camera. That made a heck of a lot of sense in the era where its cameras were getting better by leaps and bounds, year over year, but once GoPro had nearly perfected its action camera, the yearly updates felt less substantial.
Iteration Replaced Innovation
The last major redesign of the Hero was the Hero9 Black in 2020. It was the first GoPro to include a front-facing color screen, and came after the company had perfected its HyperSmooth digital stabilization system. Plus, the camera delivered excellent 5K30 and 4K60 video, and worked with an ultra-wide conversion lens, the Max Mod.
The subsequent Hero10 Black had some notable upgrades, doubling frame rates and upping resolution to 5.3K60 and 4K120. GoPro also introduced the Media Mod external microphone, Volta battery grip, and Light Mod video light with the Hero10 Black, accessories designed for vlogging rather than recording action sports. But even with these additions, the Hero10 Black started a trend—upgrades became iterative rather than revolutionary.
A year later, the Hero11 Black debuted, and it was, well, pretty much the same thing, but with a slightly boxier 8:7 aspect sensor and 10-bit video. And the next year, the Hero12 Black dropped, and it was a Hero11 plus HDR video and support for wireless audio with select earbuds. You get the picture.
GoPro made more of an effort with the Hero13 Black, offering more add-on lens options, but it still lacks a pro-grade audio solution and shows no significant improvement in low-light performance.
DJI and Insta360 Pulled Ahead
All the while, DJI was really pushing through with updates to its Osmo Action camera line. Its cameras beat contemporary GoPros with better low-light performance, tight integration with clear-sounding wireless mic systems (something GoPro didn't try until this year with its Mission 1 series), and touch input support on their front displays, often for fewer dollars. DJI out-GoProed GoPro, and captured a big slice of the growing vlogging market in the process.
GoPro Didn't Diversify Its Product Catalog
While GoPro made some attempts to expand its catalog over the years, it always put its action sports audience first. It stuck with smaller image sensors to maintain ultra-high frame rates, and up until this year's Mission 1, it did nothing to address the weak low-light recording in its camera line.
That means it missed the boat on some product categories where it could have excelled. Insta360 owns the wearable space with its Go series, for instance. The Go 3S and Ultra are tiny enough to wear on a magnetic pendant and are a hit with content creators. GoPro's answers to a smaller camera are the Hero and Lit Hero, sized-down action cams that are great for helmet mounting, but not for wearing on your person or for vlogging. Neither has a front-facing screen, and the Lit Hero's video light is uncomfortably bright for self-recording, even at its lowest setting.
Likewise, GoPro never attempted to make a version of the ultra-popular DJI Osmo Pocket 3, a camera that's become the darling of content creators because of its large Type 1 sensor and gimbal-stabilized lens. That's an especially cutting omission as DJI is now on the FCC Covered List and cannot introduce new products to the US market. DJI's Pocket 4 series isn't available stateside, and GoPro is not in a position to capitalize.
Thermals, Battery Life, and Long-Standing Weak Spots
If you go back and look at my reviews of older GoPro cameras, you'll see a couple of repeated gripes: short battery life and a tendency to overheat. This was a pernicious problem for GoPro. When left stationary, its Hero series lasted about 25 minutes at 4K60 before overheating, and its battery drained to zero after about 80 minutes, even in the best conditions.
There's no question that its cameras run hot. Some of the worst offenders ran really hot, too. The Hero11 Black Mini, a one-and-done attempt at making a more easily mountable, wearable GoPro, reached 140 degrees Fahrenheit during my testing. Nobody wants to wear a camera that can burn their skin.
GoPro finally figured out thermals with the Mission 1 Pro. I'm currently working on a review of it, but I can report that it doesn't overheat during 4K60 recording.
Big Bets That Didn’t Pay Off
While I've criticized GoPro for playing things conservatively with its camera tech, the company also made some big swings over the years. But many of those were strikeouts rather than home runs.
The Karma is the most obvious example. GoPro pumped a ton of development effort into its first drone at a time when DJI was ruling the skies with its Phantom line. The Karma proved to be an epic fail, however. It launched in September 2016 with a design flaw that caused its battery connection to loosen during flights, which led to some falling out of the sky and hitting the ground hard. But DJI put the nail in Karma's coffin with its first folding drone, the Mavic Pro, which came out around the same time and proved to be a better overall performer. It was smaller, lighter, and more affordable, too. GoPro discontinued the Karma and exited the drone space in early 2018, about 15 months after sales started.
GoPro also listed with 360-degree cameras, though its most recent Max2 righted the ship. Its early efforts though? The Fusion required a lot of expertise to use; it required two memory cards and extensive post-production editing to create a 360-degree video. The Max, was a much better camera, but by the time it was released, Insta360 had already established itself as the brand to beat with its One X, in large part because its editing software was easier to use than GoPro's more esoteric tools.
Still Not Out of Moves
GoPro's recent financial disclosures are worrying, but the company isn't finished, at least not yet. I'm currently testing its Mission 1 Pro camera and am impressed by its performance, but a little worried that its $700 price will put it out of reach for many creators. I don't think GoPro has much room to cut prices, though; the AI-driven memory shortage is making cameras and other tech more expensive, and with costs going up everywhere, it's harder to find room in the family budget for a new camera, which is a luxury purchase. Content creators and others who make a living with a video camera can more easily justify a purchase, but they're a smaller segment of the population.
We'll have to wait and see whether GoPro can find a buyer or merger partner that can sustain it through rough times. The Mission 1 Pro is proof that the company's engineering teams are still among the best in the business, and with future DJI releases locked out of the US market, there's room for GoPro to grab a slice of that pie. If it can survive, that is.