Yi's mirrorless MFT, according to reviews as I don't own one, are half the price of competing models. I have a panasonic G10, but I'am watching Yi...
Have you watched the people that use Action cams? Drones, Dirtbikes, Mountain Bikes, Kayaking and more... A warranty doesn't generally cover "Smashed into building buttress at high rate of speed whilst attached my 250mm racing drone, will you please replace under warranty?"
It seems that most people have settled for smartphones for the bulk of their photographic needs. When you can get a similarly spec'd action cam or MFT cam for 1/2 or even 1/3 the price, a LOT of people will jump on that. Especially people that have broken a GoPro... Ask me how I know that :)
DJI has a lot of competition just getting started... The quadcopter world is absolutely on fire and moving amazingly fast.
The DPR review of the Yi MFT camera is not pretty: https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/yi-m1/7 The main complaint is that it has very poor autofocus ("unusable" in continuous and video modes). Good autofocus is important, especially for entry-level cameras, so I don't think Olympus and Panasonic are too concerned about Yi stealing market share from their entry-level models.
> in low-light or when it came to low contrast subjects, which made shooting in dim or challenging light difficult at times.
This probably affects less than 10% of action camera users (who uses action cameras in low light?!). I've only used a gopro either outside (hiking, skiing) or underwater snorkeling. If I can get a similar one for half the price I will on my next purchase.
Have you watched the people that use Action cams? Drones, Dirtbikes, Mountain Bikes, Kayaking and more... A warranty doesn't generally cover "Smashed into building buttress at high rate of speed whilst attached my 250mm racing drone, will you please replace under warranty?"
It seems that most people have settled for smartphones for the bulk of their photographic needs. When you can get a similarly spec'd action cam or MFT cam for 1/2 or even 1/3 the price, a LOT of people will jump on that. Especially people that have broken a GoPro... Ask me how I know that :)
DJI has a lot of competition just getting started... The quadcopter world is absolutely on fire and moving amazingly fast.