DJI Mini 5 Pro vs DJI Mini 4 Pro: What’s New and Should You Upgrade?

As I predicted in my DJI Mini 4 Pro review, the new DJI Mini 5 Pro will be officially revealed on September 17, 2025. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at these two sub-250g drones and find out whether upgrading from the 4th to the 5th generation really makes sense. And if you’re considering either of them as your very first drone, I hope this guide will help you make the right decision with confidence.

The Mini 4 Pro features six fisheye lenses for obstacle avoidance, providing 360° detection of surrounding objects. While effective under optimal lighting conditions, its performance can be limited in low-light environments. The Mini 5 Pro addresses this limitation by incorporating advanced LiDAR sensors, offering enhanced obstacle detection and improved reliability in a wider range of lighting scenarios.

While the Mini 4 Pro is equipped with a 1/1.3″ CMOS sensor, the Mini 5 Pro steps up to a 1″ image sensor—something never before available on a sub‑250 g drone. This larger sensor delivers significantly improved low-light performance, allowing for cleaner images, better dynamic range, and more flexibility in challenging lighting conditions. The Mini 5 Pro features an increased frame rate of 120 fps compared to the Mini 4 Pro’s 100 fps, enabling smoother slow-motion capture. Additionally, its 5.4K resolution surpasses the 4K of the Mini 4 Pro, providing greater detail and enhanced flexibility for post-production workflows.

As an innovation designed to improve the user experience, the DJI Mini 5 Pro powers on automatically as soon as you unfold it, and it can even take off without a controller—similar to the functionality seen in DJI’s Neo and Flip models.

DJI Mini 5 Pro vs DJI Mini 4 Pro: In-Depth Comparison Table

Transmission System and Flight Range

For now, it is uncertain whether the Mini 5 Pro will feature OcuSync 4.0+ or 5.0, but it is confirmed to provide a flight range of up to 20 km. By comparison, the Mini 4 Pro with OcuSync 4.0 has also a theoretical maximum range of 20 km. While these advertised ranges are impressive, in practice you are limited by the drone’s battery life. With a standard battery that lasts around 30 minutes, you can safely fly about 6–8 km round-trip, or roughly 15 km one way. Achieving the full 25 km would require in-air recharging, similar to mid-air refueling in jet fighters.

Bottom line: Who Should Upgrade?

If you demand higher performance—for example if you regularly shoot video that requires slow motion like 4K/120fps, or you do work in low light or with tighter dynamic range—then the Mini 5 Pro offers clear advantages. The rumored specs show it will have a 1-inch CMOS sensor, which should give better image quality and low-light performance than the Mini 4 Pro’s 1/1.3-inch sensor. Also, improvements such as longer flight times and stronger obstacle sensing (including omnidirectional vision and LiDAR) will help professionals or serious hobbyists who need more reliability during complex or extended flights. These features make a difference for commercial shoots or projects where every detail matters.

However, if your drone usage is more casual—travel videos, social media content, vlogging, or you shoot mostly in good lighting—you may be well served staying with the Mini 4 Pro. It already offers excellent features: under 249 g weight, omnidirectional obstacle sensing, 4K/60fps HDR video, true vertical shooting, and very good flight time (around 30 minutes with the standard battery). Unless you often need the extra frame-rate, sensor size, or the most advanced tracking / video workflows, the Mini 4 Pro may provide the best value for now.