Today, The Verge reported that the FCC drone ban is in effect. This means that you can no longer buy DJI drones in the USA. In my opinion, the consumer drone market now is basically dead. If you wanted the de facto choice for aerial photography or even recreational drone use, it's gone.
The crazier thing is how huge the drone moment in the United States was and how DJI was basically the only drone you wanted to buy. I remember watching YouTube videos of "Drone Fails" with my friend in middle school and early high school. This was during the 2015–2017 period when drones were everywhere. The drone that was basically in every video: the DJI Phantom.
The Phantom was the first drone that I think was a pop culture hit. It was used by hobbyists all the way to professionals because a version came with a 4K camera. It was the most advanced and best-performing drone money could buy at the time.
I was actually obsessed with getting my own drone. As a kid, I used to love having Air Hogs RC helicopters, and as a teenager, this felt like the natural evolution. I could never afford the cream of the crop—the DJI Phantom 3—so I always got cheap little toy drones. I ended up losing one into a cluster of trees from a strong gust of wind. I even ordered a knock-off on Amazon of the DJI Phantom 3, only for it to take a month to ship and not even work when it came here...
The drone craze has really gone away. Almost no one talks about getting a drone anymore, and the only people who do are drone racing hobbyists (but they build their own quadcopters) or cinematographers.
Look at all the competition lost along the way: the GoPro Karma, Parrot basically leaving the consumer drone market, Snapchat Pixy—the list goes on. The only company that has really stood out and continued to survive is DJI. But now that it's gone in the USA, you are more or less totally out of luck if you want a high-quality drone.
To put it simply, this sucks. It would suck less if there was another company equally as good, but there isn't. DJI was banned as a national security measure, but there isn't a good USA product to step in and take its place. Most US-based drone makers are in the professional space where regular people like you and me are not going to buy the product (or even afford it).
I wonder if this is the end of ever seeing someone in a park flying a drone or YouTube videos of covert drone footage of new buildings. If it is, I am honestly sad, as recreational aviation has a soft spot in my heart. But what I can be thankful for is that the DIY drone hobby is probably about to get an influx of eyes on it to make up for the hole in the market.