On Tuesday, Jan. 23, at an event in New York, DJI unveiled its latest product, Mavic Air, which the company describes as an “ultra-portable, foldable camera drone that delivers higher performance, more intelligent features and greater creative possibilities than any other consumer drone.”

According to DJI, Mavic Air was developed with the traveler and outdoor enthusiast in mind, as it inherits the best features of DJI’s Mavic series but is considerably smaller, at half the size and 40 percent of the weight. It's closer in size to the company's Spark, but actually has a smaller footprint because its rotor arms fold up, and it carries a better camera.

Mavic Air's features include a 4k camera, new QuickShot modes and SmartCapture for “easier, more intelligent photo and video capturing,” and FlightAutonomy 2.0 with Advanced Pilot Assistance Systems for smarter, safer flight.

“When DJI introduced the Mavic Pro, it reinvented what a consumer drone could be: powerful, yet portable, accessible, but advanced,” says Roger Luo, President at DJI. “Today, with the introduction of Mavic Air, we have pushed these attributes to the next level to create our best consumer drone yet.”

Mavic Air weighs less than a pound, making it the most portable UAS that DJI has ever developed. With folding arms and propellers that sit flush against its slender aerodynamic frame, Mavic Air is so compact that its footprint is nearly the size of a modern smartphone when folded, although it's considerably thicker. The company's North American director, Michael Perry, pulled a couple of them out of his pockets at the event to showcase their diminutive size.

Despite its stature, Mavic Air can fly stably in windy conditions of up to 22 mph, and at high elevations of up to 16,404 feet above sea level, making it useful in a variety of situations and environments, the company says. The UAS also has a maximum flight time of up to 21 minutes.

Every aspect of Mavic Air’s camera has been designed for maximum performance, DJI says. To further reduce vibration and provide superior protection and steadier shots, Mavic Air’s recessed three-axis mechanical gimbal is suspended from dampeners. The UAS captures high-quality photos and videos thanks to a powerful camera that houses a 1/2.3” CMOS sensor and the equivalent of a 24mm F2.8 lens (on a 35mm full frame sensor).

Users can capture beautiful aerial pictures from sunrise to sunset thanks to new HDR algorithms that preserve more highlight and low light details, which allows Mavic Air to photograph crisp 12-megapixel still images, DJI says.

The UAS can also shoot smooth stabilized 4K video at 30 fps, capturing the highest quality video of any DJI consumer UAS with a maximum bitrate of 100 Mbps, and, with Mavic Air’s ability to shoot 1080p slow-motion video at 120 fps, the UAS can also preserve the action in dramatic fast-paced scenes as well.

Forgot your micro SD card? Mavic Air is DJI’s first UAS with eight gigabytes of onboard storage, which allows users to save photos and videos directly to the aircraft on the go. A  card slot allows for more storage capacity. Exporting captured footage is easy and fast thanks to a newly added USB-C port.

Mavic Air is equipped with FlightAutonomy 2.0, which is used to process data gathered from seven onboard cameras and infrared sensors to construct a 3D map of its environment for “more precise hovering and better flight performance.”

The improved forward and backward dual camera vision systems can sense obstacles up to 66 feet away, and, with newly developed Advanced Pilot Assistance Systems, Mavic Air can make its way through more complex outdoor environments, ultimately helping pilots avoid and bypass obstacles automatically.

Mavic Air is currently available for pre-order, and drones will start shipping on Jan. 28.