Tariffs are back in the US, and this time they’re targeted at drones. According to a statement posted by The White House on Thursday, there will be a 25% tariff on drones smaller than 25kg (55lb) and components for them. This comes as the drone market in the US has already suffered a major blow when the FCC said it would no longer approve new drones from foreign companies for sale, effectively making it so none of the major drone makers (read: DJI) could launch their new products in the country.

The White House positions the tariffs as a way to “address the national security threat posed by imports of drones and their components,” though the statement specifically calls out that the smaller drones being tariffed at 25% “lack certain capabilities that particularly implicate national security.” The tariffs come down much harder on heavier industrial and agricultural models, or drones that have thermal imaging capabilities; those are being taxed at 100%.

This is the latest move from the US government aimed at curtailing the popularity of foreign-made drones. Last year, it made it so companies couldn’t get regulatory approval to sell new drones in the country, but allowed existing models to remain on store shelves. That hasn’t changed, but with the addition of tariffs, it seems certain that those drones will now be more expensive, leaving Americans to pay more for now-outdated models.

The tariffs on drones will take effect 21 days from when the proclamation was signed, while the ones on some components may take a while longer to go into effect. In case it wasn’t clear that the administration was largely targeting drones made in China, the proclamation also contains a carveout on drones and components made in the EU, Japan, Liechtenstein, Republic of Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the UK, as long as “substantially all hardware, software, and technology originates from within these countries and the United States.” If they meet that bar, they’ll only be tariffed at 15% (or 10% for the UK).

DJI

This isn’t the current US administration’s first attempt at tariffs. Last year it announced wide-ranging import tariffs on goods from virtually every other country, sparking trade wars, which saw threats of tariffs as high as 25% on goods from Japan, and up to 145% on Chinese imports. While they were in effect, nearly every camera company raised its prices on most or all of their products. While the reciprocal tariffs were deemed illegal by the Supreme Court earlier this year, we’ve yet to see a wholesale softening of those prices.

As for whether these new tariffs will meet the same fate, it’s impossible to say. But if you’re an American considering a drone, it may be worth getting it sooner, rather than later.

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When Honor first showed off the Robot Phone last year, it seemed like an idea that would forever live as just a concept and CGI renders. A phone with a built-in gimbal that folds into the camera bump? That’s also a collaboration with cinema camera company Arri? It all seemed a bit far fetched.

And yet today, the company actually launched it, and it’s for sale in China. At least a few members of the press have even had the opportunity to try it, and Honor teamed up with cinematographers to film some truly wild promo videos with it to show off its video capabilities.

I, personally, would not trust the AI assistant in my phone to control my spaceship.

The Robot Phone’s main camera – the one mounted on the integrated three-axis gimbal – has a 200MP Type 1/1.28 (76mm²) sensor with a 23mm equiv. F1.6 lens. It’s optically stabilized, but obviously the titanium gimbal will do most of the heavy lifting in that regard.

It’s not just for keeping the camera steady during longer exposures or video though; there’s an AI tracking mode to keep your subject centered in the frame, even as you move around, a panorama mode, a star assist feature to track stars across the sky for astrophotography and time lapses, and a rotation mode that will produce a dramatic spinning shot. There are also several different stabilization modes for the gimbal, depending on the look you’re going for.

The gimbal isn’t only relegated to camera duty, though. The phone also features an AI companion called “Yoyo,” which exists as an animated character on the screen, and which can move the gimbal to simulate making gestures. For example, if you ask Yoyo to make an excited expression, the eyes on the phone’s screen will light up, and the gimbal will rock back and forth. It can also “dance” along to music, moving the gimbal along to the beat.

On the opposite end of the playfulness spectrum, Honor is marketing the phone as a serious video tool, saying it allows for a “professional Arri cinematic workflow.” It can shoot in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio, and has a few color modes inspired by “Arri Image Science,” as well as support for recording 10-bit 4:2:2 video using the Arri LogC3 curve (though, thankfully, there is a Log assist view so you don’t have to look at a low-contrast preview while you’re recording). That theoretically allows you to use LUTs designed by professionals to grade your footage, and Honor specifically calls out that Davinci Resolve can grade the footage from the phone. It can record video at up to 4K/120 on its gimbal camera, though the LogC3 mode is limited to 4K/60.

The phone has two other cameras, though they’re more traditional models fixed into the camera bump. There’s a 200MP Type 1/1.4 (63mm²) sensor for the telephoto camera, which has a 62mm equiv. F2.6 optically stabilized lens, as well as a 50MP ultrawide camera with a 10mm equiv. F2 lens. Honor doesn’t specify the sensor size for the latter.

Honor

The company didn’t just make a fancy camera and call it a day, though, as the rest of the phone has top-of-the-line flagship specs. It’s powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 system on a chip, has a silicon-carbon battery with a 7060mAh capacity (which can be charged at up to 120W wired, or 50W wirelessly), and a 6.31″ display that can reach a (literally) eye-watering 6800 nit peak brightness. 

Unsurprisingly, it’s a touch thicker and heavier than other flagship phones. It weighs 248g (8.7oz) versus the iPhone 17 Pro’s 206g (7.27oz), and is 9.6mm thick versus the iPhone’s 8.75mm. The iPhone, of course, has a substantially lower-capacity battery and also doesn’t have a built-in gimbal.

The Honor Robot phone seems to be a continuation of a trend that seemed finished: the pop-up camera. A few years ago, as phone manufacturers were fighting to shrink the bezels on their phones for a true edge-to-edge display, some companies tried to move the selfie camera from the front of the phone into a mechanized module that would pop up from the top. There were always concerns about the longevity of those solutions, and, at the end of the day, they added a lot complexity for relatively little gain (especially once phone makers figured out how to hide cameras under the screen, or realized people would accept a hole-punch or notch).

This feels different, though. If you’re into video, a gimbal is a genuinely big upgrade from standard IBIS and electronic stabilization, and having one built-into a phone is undeniably extremely convenient. Sure, there are plenty of standalone gimbals designed to work with phones, as well as portable vlogging cameras with integrated gimbals from the likes of DJI and Insta360, but always having access to that kind of stabilization without having to charge and bring along a separate device could be game-changing for certain kinds of shooters. Of course, those durability concerns still remain – when not in use the gimbal is tucked away behind a sliding window, but it’s still a complex moving part – but this time the trade-off could be worthwhile.

Honor

It’ll be very interesting to see if this phone makes its way to markets outside of China, or if it gets an update later down the line. It costs 9,999 Chinese Yuan – around $1500 – for a version with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, and 3000 Yuan (~$444) more for a version with 16GB of memory and 1TB of storage.

Rumors and vague teasers have been suggesting for months now that Insta360 is developing a mirrorless camera. Now, the company’s CEO, Jingkang “JK” Liu, has confirmed that not one, but two mirrorless cameras are in development. Liu even added that one will apparently have a shape not considered before. 

The confirmation came from an interview with Mynavi News in conjunction with Insta360’s flagship store opening in Asakusa, Japan. This isn’t the first time the company has hinted at a mirrorless camera, though. In January 2026, Liu posted on Weibo with the phrase ‘Heading towards new focal lengths,’ which started the mirrorless speculation. 

In the interview, Liu gave slightly more details than that initial vague teaser. “At this point, there’s only so much we can say, but we are developing two types of mirrorless cameras,” Liu said. While he wasn’t able to provide many details, he did drop one hint that certainly seems intriguing:  “One of them will have a surprising shape that you’ve never even considered before.” 

When asked why Insta360 decided to tackle an ILC, Liu explained that the goal is “to make it easy for people who don’t know how to use interchangeable-lens cameras to use them by introducing new technologies and AI.” Given that the company has introduced plenty of AI-based features in its app and cameras, it isn’t surprising that it’s thinking about AI for an ILC, either. We’ve seen one take on extensive use of AI in an ILC with the Caira camera, which takes a notably AI-forward approach to ILC design. Of course, we’ll have to wait and see in terms of specifics on how Insta360 plans on implementing this.

GoPro

Insta360 isn’t the only action camera company eyeing the ILC market. GoPro has already announced the Mission 1 Pro ILS, its own interchangeable-lens camera. However, that camera uses a Type 1 sensor and a mount that accepts Micro Four Thirds lenses, but it can’t electronically communicate with them, limiting which models it’ll work with, and making it a manual focus-only affair. Insta360’s rumored models, by contrast, appear to target a genuine Micro Four Thirds system.

Liu didn’t share any further details about the cameras, though leaked images circulating online suggest a Micro Four Thirds mount, with details covered by both RedShark News and TechRadar. There have also been suggestions that the name of the camera will be the Z One. Given Nikon’s well-established Z system, this seems an interesting choice. 

Liu shared that Insta360 may be able to show a prototype at CP+ in February 2027, so it could be a while before we learn more. 

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Skylum has announced an update to Luminar – its photo editing suite that became synonymous with AI sky replacement – which arrives under the pitch of protecting human talent and creative vision.

According to Skylum, the update is arriving in two phases. Phase 1 shipped on August 5 as version 1.28.0, and includes user interface and performance improvements. The Catalog and Edit modes have been merged into a single workspace, with Presets, Tools and Edits gathered into one reorganized panel on the right. Skylum claims exports are now up to 27% faster, preset previews up to 3.8 times faster, and masking uses up to 33% less memory.

The release also adds camera support for the Leica SL3-P and M11-P, the Panasonic Lumix DC-L10 and the Sony a7R VI, plus compressed Raw support for the a7 V. Additionally, the company says it has rebuilt its generative model to produce results that blend more naturally into the original photograph.

Skylum

We also noticed a quiet change: “Neo” appears to be going away. Skylum’s August release notes are headed “Luminar 1.28.0” whereas June’s were headed “Luminar Neo 1.27.1,” and the press materials don’t mention the word. Skylum’s own website hasn’t caught up, and still refers to the app both ways.

Phase 2 is slated to arrive this fall and will focus more on feature improvements. The company says a revised Crop tool will evaluate an image and propose several finished compositions, weighing subject, balance, leading lines and visual weight, and the Atmosphere Fog tool is being rebuilt to respond to a scene’s light, color and depth rather than laying a flat layer over the top. An improved Enhance tool is designed to reduce the risk of overprocessing, and the AI Assistant is being updated to take a description of the look you’re after and apply a combination of Luminar tools to deliver the result you want.

Finally, Skylum says it’s introducing a new web editor to support cross-platform editing.

Skylum

Skylum’s earlier marketing leaned heavily into AI as a selling point, through Luminar AI’s launch and Luminar Neo’s debut. This announcement reads a bit differently: Skylum says the update arrives as the industry grapples with fears that AI might “overshadow human talent” and bring an end to what it calls a nearly 200-year-old craft, with CEO Ivan Kutanin adding, “Creative vision comes first; technology is here only to let it shine.” 

That’s an interesting position from the company that popularized one-click sky replacement, but Skylum seems to be drawing a distinction between craft and documentary photography; effects that prove convincing in a scene versus ones that look pasted in. (The fact that the software also lets you reshape a subject’s body in a portrait makes that a tougher sell.)

Price and availability

Luminar is available as a one-time purchase in three versions. A desktop-only version for Mac and Windows sells for $129. The All Platforms version adds support for iOS, Android and ChromeOS apps, cross-device editing and access to Luminar on the web when it arrives this fall; it retails for $259, but is on sale for $159 through August 31. The Max version adds a year of the company’s Luminar Prime service and retails for $399, but is on sale for $199 through August 31.