Who Needs a Regular GoPro When Insta360’s Affordable X4 Air Exists?

All of us leering at the large, evil eye of 360 cameras these past few years have wondered what it would take to finally see one at the same price as a typical GoPro. Well, we may finally have that option with Insta360’s X4 Air. It’s essentially the company’s last-gen 360 camera repackaged as the budget option. But when Insta360’s leading X5 costs $550, grabbing 8K, all-around footage for less is starting to sound way more appealing than a traditional action camera.

If you stare long enough into the iris of the stick-shaped X4 Air, you may struggle to find what’s different between it and last year’s X4 and the latest X5. The X4 Air contains dual 1/1.8-inch sensors in the typical fisheye compartment. That’s larger than the original X4’s 1/2-inch sensors, though slightly more petite compared to the 1/1.28-inch on the X5. It will film the typical 8K resolution at 30 fps—which is the basics of what you need for 360 footage. If you drop the resolution to 4K, you can get up to 60 fps compared to the X5’s 100 fps at the same resolution. However, 8K is more important for 360 footage considering the pixels are spread across the entire spherical image. The 100 fps maximum on both the X4 and X5 was built for slow-mo footage, though it will sacrifice some image quality. The X4 Air can only hit 120 fps at 1080p in single-lens mode.

Insta360 promises the 360 camera has enough battery for 88 minutes of continuous recording at its max resolution and frame rate. The new X4 Air also won’t take the best-quality still photos, maxing out at 29 megapixels compared to 72 megapixels. However, unlike the Insta360 X4, the Air allows for replaceable lens protectors and fully swappable lenses, first introduced with the X5. This has become one of the most-requested features for 360 cameras. Insta360 redesigned its upcoming Antigravity X1 360 camera drone to include swappable lenses after receiving early feedback.

And to top it off, the X4 Air isn’t that much thinner or lighter than the previous X4 or the current X5. It weighs 165g (0.36 pounds), which is 35g less than the 200g (0.44 pounds) X5, which doesn’t make it that much more portable in the grand scheme of things. You’ll still be sticking these cameras onto the end of telescoping poles to capture your all-around antics. As is always the issue with 360 cameras, the nature of 360 footage means you’ll need to spend a little more time in the editing room before you can throw your footage up on Instagram.

The competition has spent 2025 trying to knock Insta360 off its 360 footage throne. DJI started things out with its $550 Osmo 360(which you’ll still struggle to buy in the U.S.). GoPro decided it didn’t need a sudden sequel to its Hero action camera series this year and instead tried to undercut Insta360 with its $500 GoPro Max2. The X4 Air’s $400 starting price point is still steep, but it’s essentially the same cost as a new GoPro Hero13 Black. At this point, we can expect 360 cameras to start meeting or beating the cost of single-lens devices.

If you were already about to do the whole “shut up and take my money” song and dance, you may need to hold off for a little while. While the camera is supposed to be available immediately, Insta360 has not revealed when it may be available in either the U.S. or Canada. We reached out to the company to learn if this is due to the lack of U.S.