Estimated reading time: 15 minutes
From electric aircraft to high-quality 4K aerial photography drones, Yuneec International has developed incredibly as a high-end consumer drone manufacturer overtime and became a global reader in multi rotor drones and UAV technology.
Learning about Yuneec International as one of the drone industry pioneers is important if your goal is to become a drone flying pilot.
Yuneec International is an International drone manufacturing company that specializes in aerial photography drone systems and consumer-level drones. It was one of the first companies to step into the drone manufacturing industry and took it by storm due to the immense innovation and creativity in the field.
But wait, there’s more. In this article, I’m going to talk about the history of Yuneec, the company’s corporate structure, and the plans and assumptions of the company’s success in the drone industry.
So if your primary goal is to learn about the incredible achievements of Yuneec and some of their best drones and products so you can buy your own, make sure you go through this article thoroughly.
Table of contents
- About Yuneec: The Company-
- History of Yuneec:
- Where are Yuneec Drones Manufactured?
- Yuneec Headquarters:
- Corporate Frame & Infrastructure of Yuneec:
- What led to Yuneec’s incredible success and popularity?
- Why Choose Yuneec Drones Over Others?
- Top 3 Best Yuneec Drones to Buy:
- 2. Yuneec Typhoon H3:
- Future of Yuneec as a Drone Manufacturing Company:
About Yuneec: The Company–
Yuneec is one of the biggest drone manufacturing companies in the world drone industry.
Many of its drones are expensive for consumers; however, these drones’ features are more professional-quality, higher-end, and valuable.
Primarily offering aerial drone systems and electric aircraft, on the side, Yuneec also provides camera solutions, gimbals, drone parts, and accessories for their quadcopter and hexacopter systems.
The vision at Yuneec is to provide the best version of uncrewed aerial vehicles to the public, so from the field of public security to consumer entertainment, everything can be addressed accordingly.
With innovation in the craft and creative use of technology, Yuneec has stepped into the industry of aerial photography and made a huge impact crushing the competition over a few years.
Yuneec is at the center stage of drone manufacturing excellence, with many awards in its possession; Yuneec is in direct competition with some of the biggest drone manufacturing companies like Hubsan, DJI, and Parrot.
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History of Yuneec:
Founded in 1999, Yuneec was initially a radio-controlled drone model manufacturing company.
The Chinese company is based in Jinxi, Kunshan, within Jiangsu, owned by Yuneec Holding Limited.
After the successful creations of the first Electric powered Paraglider and Yuneec International e-Spyder, the owners of Yuneec wanted to expand and grow branches in other industries.
Yuneec’s E430 electric aircraft won the Lindbergh prize at the World Electric Aircraft Symposium in 2010.
And the company became a founding member of Dronecode, a non-profit initiative to provide Linux software to drone manufacturers, in 2014.
Around 2015, Intel Corporation invested over $60 in Yuneec, after which the company ventured into the consumer professional drone industry. From there on, Yuneec manufactured some of the most memorable drone models.
Yuneec Breeze, with the capability to record 4K UltraHD launched around a month after that deal. Then came Typhoon H with Intel Realsense technology that allows machines to sense depth and human motion around in 2016.
In 2017, Yuneec brought out the H520, a hallmark of drone manufacturing excellence specifically built for the consumer market. It was a modular hexacopter with various camera options and encryption mode.
Now, in 2021, nearly every industry that utilizes recon and monitoring as well as aerial photography to some extent knows and trusts Yuneec for its amazing drones.
That’s why Yuneec drones are so loved throughout the world.
Where are Yuneec Drones Manufactured?
As we know, Yuneec is a Chinese company based out of Jiangsu, China. The company’s drones are manufactured within its manufacturing plant facility in China then shipped to other parts of the world.
This means that if you and I order a Yuneec Typhoon H3, we will receive a box-packed, ready-to-fly version of the drone assembled in China then shipped to our desired location.
Yuneec drones are available almost everywhere around the world. This is mostly because store.yuneec.com allows worldwide delivery with prices varying according to the taxes on imports.
The company has a strong emphasis on the US drone market but mainly, all the production, assembly, and packaging happens within the Chinese region to benefit China’s industry.
Yuneec Headquarters:
In China, Yuneec International has headquarters in the Shanghai region. This is the original headquarters of the company established close to the creation of the organization.
The company owners and the marketing managers decided that only a single headquarters in the Chinese region of Shanghai is not going to be enough.
So, to oversee the company activities, which is why a second headquarters was needed.
Due to the company’s wide popularity and its products in the United States of America, CEO Larry Liu decided that the US headquarters facility be established in California, the industrial hub of the US.
Corporate Frame & Infrastructure of Yuneec:
In the past 15 years, Yuneec International has made one of the biggest drone manufacturing empires of all time. To understand how they achieved all this, we need to delve into their internals.
Let’s take a look at the proper corporate infrastructure, staff, employees, revenue, locations, and other factors that led to the incredible success of Yuneec International.
Staff and Employees:
The owner and Chairman of Yuneec are Wenyan Jiang, whereas the CEO of the company is Larry Liu. Both these individuals have the vision of making Yuneec International the best, most innovative drone manufacturer in the market.
Yuneec has over 1800 employees working for them. All these workers are incredibly dedicated to creating the best designs and assembling the perfect drones for drone enthusiasts’ entertainment and professional needs.
Annual Revenue:
Even with a small number of employees globally, Yuneec has reached the level of the biggest drone manufacturing companies in the world, becoming a competitor of Parrot, Hubsan, and DJI.
With an annual turnover of $545 million, Yuneec is one of the industry’s most successful companies. This is because of the incredible drone quality, technology, features, and innovation they bring to the table.
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Branch Locations:
Yuneec is as famous and popular as it is because of the multitude of retail locations and offices in the world’s main regions offering some of their best products, accessories, and most importantly, drones.
You’re going to find Yuneec headquarters only in the US and China. Still, offices and retail locations can be found in Asia, South America, North America, Australia, and Europe in many different countries and cities.
The best thing about Yuneec drones is that you’ll be able to find them anywhere you live. This is better than other drone manufacturing countries because they usually don’t have worldwide availability.
Yuneec drones can be found at standard prices worldwide, whereas other drones would need to be imported with all extra government and import taxes on them which isn’t ideal.
Investors and Partners:
The biggest investor for Yuneec International is $60 million in 2015 by Intel Corporation.
The investment also led both the companies to sign a deal to collaborate over the years, which led to Intel Realsense being used in many Yuneec drones.
They also partnered with Ocean Alliance in 2015. Yuneec signed a deal with Best Buy in the US to sell their Typhoon series in their retail stores.
Many other Yuneec partnerships are also created around the world to promote Yuneec products and drones.
What led to Yuneec’s incredible success and popularity?
Being a drone company, the competition for Yuneec was always incredibly high. Only the best of the best products would gain popularity and others would be discarded.
In their time, Yuneec also faced a lot of software bugs and financial problems that could’ve put them out of business but instead, they learned from their mistakes and came stronger than ever.
You might be wondering, what kind of problems did Yuneec face as a drone company?
Let’s take a look at the struggles and obstacles the company had to overcome to become successful and incredibly popular.
Yuneec Breeze Tilted Flight:
In 2015, Yuneec launched one of their highest-selling drones in the market as Yuneec Breeze. It was a highly anticipated semi-autonomous drone and people had high expectations from it.
But unfortunately, it fell below the expectations of the customers who were not happy about paying a good amount of money to get their hands on the Breeze 4K by Yuneec.
The problem with the drone was that it flew sideways at times and pilots could not understand why. It was actually due to a calibration problem that Yuneec did not fully address during the release.
Yuneec Typhoon H Firmware Problems:
After Yuneec Breeze 4K, Yuneec came up with the Typhoon H which was released in the year 2016.
Yuneec Typhoon H is one of the first high-end professional photography drones by Yuneec.
The drone performed extremely well and customers were very happy with it. But the firmware 3.0 release was not great and resulted in the drone behaving abnormally.
The drone controls would not work well in some cases and it would fall out of the sky at times due to poor connectivity. This created huge problems for the company.
Yuneec’s Amazing Response to These Problems:
To deal with the calibration issue that Yuneec Breeze 4k came with, Yuneec released patches and bug fixes that helped the calibration process become easier and work perfectly.
The Typhoon H firmware 3.0 was dealt with quite efficiently and effectively with a firmware update by Yuneec.
That problem also ended and people loved the Typhoon series so much that even few the Typhoon H3 in the Typhoon series is well-loved and respected as a professional drone.
In 2018, the company was losing money due to availability problems, and competition increase to the point where rumors of the company going under due to bankruptcy surfaced.
And to some extent, the company was close to going under due to mismanagements in the financial sector, more demand and less supply, and other problems as well.
However, with sheer determination, help from their brand partners, and better financial planning, Yuneec is now known as one of the top-rated, the highest quality drone selling companies around the world.
Why Choose Yuneec Drones Over Others?
We know that Yuneec is one of the best consumer high-end drone manufacturers in the market
As a drone enthusiast, what would make you want to buy their drone over a DJI or a Parrot drone?
That’s a great question. If you’re curious about buying a Yuneec drone over others, here are some of the best advantages you’re going to get from a Yuneec drone that will help you make your final buying decision.
Professional-Quality Build:
Professionalism is what Yuneec aims for. Drone manufacturing companies usually claim to be the best, but they cannot offer the best of structure, build-quality, and finesse even with high prices.
But in the case of Yuneec, you get what you pay for. Since the drones are built for the consumer industry professional applications, the build is better than any other.
The overall quality of the drone is perfect, which is remarkable for us.
Best for Security Industry:
Yuneec drones come with highly complex features and use methods and techniques that best suit professional industries.
One of these industries is the security and protection industry.
From basic recon drones to Yuneec’s high-quality infrared camera drones having many different recording and photo capturing capabilities with encryption mode and whatnot, Yuneec drones are perfect for the security industry.
Maximum Availability:
Most of the drone manufacturing companies based in China mostly target the United States for their profits because of the US’s incredible drone enthusiast community.
However, Yuneec not only provides their high-quality drones to US drone enthusiasts but drone lovers all around the world through worldwide delivery,
Autonomous Modes and Technology:
So, you buy a drone from any other consumer-based drone manufacturing company, the most you’re going to get is a headless mode or a Follow me autonomous mode in the drones.
Yuneec provides you the full value of their products. With innovative technology and incredibly advanced autonomous modes that make recon and sensitive operations possible.
Yuneec drones are top-notch when it comes to creativity and autonomy.
Amazing Proprietary Accessories:
Most drone manufacturing companies solely focus on selling you the whole package of drones and not anything complementary. But that is not the case with Yuneec International.
They have proprietary gimbals, camera sensors, specialized lenses, batteries, propellers, backpacks, remote controllers, and much more.
So, if you lose anything, you don’t have to spend a lot of money getting a new drone which is a great thing in my opinion.
Top 3 Best Yuneec Drones to Buy:
We know that Yuneec makes some of the best professional high-end drones in the market, but finding the perfect drone for your requirements could be difficult. You’d have to spend quite a while searching for the right drone.
I’ve used a few and scoured the internet for the rest of Yuneec drones to bring you the top 3 best Yuneec drones to buy for your drone flying hobby or professional organizational needs. Let’s take a look at them.
1. Yuneec Breeze 4K Quadcopter Drone:
One of the first quadcopter drones manufactured by Yuneec was the highly capable yet affordable and compact Yuneec Breeze that recorded videos and pictures at 4K UltraHD resolution.
If you’re thinking of buying it, here are some of the best features that will encourage you to get it.
· 4K Recordability – With a 13 MP camera and 4K resolution, the Breeze quadcopter can take stunning stills and record incredibly clear, high-quality videos at the command of the pilot.
· Beginner -Friendly – One of the best things about this drone is that it can be controlled easily. It is cheaper than the other drones by Yuneec as well, and the mechanics of the remote are fairly simple for the new drone pilot.
· Indoor and Outdoor – The Yuneec Breeze drone has been adjusted to be able to fly swiftly and easily indoors as well as outdoors, so you don’t have to worry about the location of the flight as long as you’re following FAA rules.
· Compact – The Breeze build was fairly small and compact, which allows maximum control and ease of use. This compactness also allows the drone to be stored easily.
· Autonomous – With Selfie, Pilot, Orbit, Follow Me, and Journey autonomous modes, Yuneec Breeze offers you the best of high-end autonomous technology.
2. Yuneec Typhoon H3:
Created as a collaboration between Yuneec and Leica, the Typhoon H3 is a step towards professional aerial photography and monitoring drone usage.
The drone is expensive, but you’re surely getting what you paid for. Let’s take a look at some top features of this hexacopter drone.
· 20MP Leica ION Camera – With the powerful Leica ION camera and 20 MP of photo capturing finesse, the Yuneec Typhoon H3 has an incredible photo and video recording ability.
· Autonomous Modes – From the simple piloting mode to Journey, Orbit, Path, Follow Me, and many other autonomous modes, the Yuneec Typhoon H3 has a lot to offer in terms of autonomy.
· Collapsible – The drone comes with a foldable and collapsible design, making it quite compact and easy to store.
· Advanced Photo and Video Options – There are many different professional advanced photo and video editing options, so you record whatever you’re looking for.
· Data Security – The professionally designed communication path between the remote and the drone allows no information and data to be intercepted, and the security of the drone is top-notch.
3. Yuneec H520:
A drone created for industrial-usage loaded with the best features, customizability, and control options are Yuneec H520.
The potential of this drone is incredible, and it will be a worthwhile investment for your organization.
To give you a reference to its capabilities, here are some of the specs of this drone.
· E90 Camera – The E90 camera uses a 20 MP 1 inch sensor to take beautiful still shots and record incredibly high-quality footage for recon, monitoring, mapping, and many other industrial uses.
· Yuneec SDK – Yuneec offers developers and programmers full control to unlock the potential of the H520 with their Yuneec Software Development Kit.
· ST16S – The ST16S is a complete All-in-one remote controller with a 7-inch screen and android OS-based software. It can also be used to plan flights with the touch of a single button.
· Yuneec DataPilot – With the help of Yuneec’s DataPilot software system, you can create 3D scans, ortho maps, crop data imagery, flight paths, flight schedules, and much more to save resources and time.
· Autonomous Capability – Using the various incredible autonomous flight modes of Yuneec, you can get the best shots and monitor with the Yuneec H520.
Future of Yuneec as a Drone Manufacturing Company:
So, finally, the million-dollar question is, what does the future hold for a company as big and successful as Yuneec International?
I believe that Yuneec adapted to the drone technology rush of the 2010s very well. Leaving behind many drone manufacturers and becoming one of the most popular companies, Yuneec made a fortune in the industry.
Since Drones are the future machines, in my opinion, Yuneec will fair amazingly in the coming years. As technology becomes more innovative and high-end, so will the drones.
Yuneec understands the future potential of drone technology and how it will influence the entire world in various fields.
And I’d say the future holds more success and popularity for Yuneec International.
Thinking of buying a Yuneec drone in the hopes of making a future-proof drone buying decision? You’re doing the right thing. I hope you have a wonderful drone flying experience with your Yuneec drone for a long time to come.
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