Miniature China drones big sellers on Amazon

One of the best-selling quadcopters on Amazon right now is the Cheerson CX-10, a 29mm miniature drone that costs $15 and is completely controlled manually. It is not the most exciting drone on the market, but as Quartz points out, the device is perfect for beginners.

The drone currently has 3.5 stars with more than 900 reviews on Amazon. That is not bad for an inexpensive piece of flying plastic. Since this is a very basic drone, there are no autopilot features or any other special functions that might be found in more expensive drones. However, quadcopters can be difficult to maneuver and control, so learning on something small and easily replaceable makes it a great learning device for children. As drone racers can attest, crashes are not uncommon. As drones get more media attention, there is likely to be more demand from younger age groups and more drones will wind up under Christmas trees. At least, the Cheerson is easy to fit under there.

The mini drone trend is not just something China manufacturers are following. They started it. The Cheerson CX-10 is listed on Global Sources and comes from Corelink Industrial. It has an FOB price of $12 to $15 with an MOQ of 10 units. As is always the case among China manufacturers, the market is not close to cornered. Shenzhen Sunsky Technology, Shenzhen Puluz Technology and many others also produce similar miniature drones. It is unclear how long demand for something like this will keep up but it is a very niche market. Miniature drones are the perfect product for a small number of people, but those who decide to get more serious are naturally going to move up the scale to more sophisticated machines.

For now, though, the price is right. Corelink has been smart by setting up a Cheerson Amazon shop, as it has allowed the company to sell a large enough volume to get a high listing on the site, which is the kind of publicity manufacturers cannot buy.