DJI will be announcing the Ronin-SC — a followup to their popular Ronin-S single handed gimbal — on July 17th.

This comes only a few months after competitors Zhiyun-Tech, Moza and Feiyu-Tech announced their new gimbals: the Crane 3 LAB, AirCross 2 & AK4500 respectively. This new generation of single-handed gimbals weigh less, have built-in screens, offer more smart modes and include wireless image transmission or follow focus — making the one-year-old Ronin-S look increasingly like a dinosaur. Rumors had quietly begun to circle online that a new Ronin-S was in the works, but today DJI made it official, publicizing the July 17 announcement date on their website.

What to expect?

Just like DJI’s past couple of releases, there won’t actually be an event to announce the new Ronin-S. On July 17 at 9 am they’ll just flip a switch and make the product page public along with the simultaneous upload of a dozen or so video reviews by YouTubers.

The name game

First off, it won’t be called the Ronin-S 2. Instead, leaks have shown DJI is referring to the new gimbal as the Ronin-SC. What the C could stand for is somewhat unclear.

In the past, the letter C hasn’t been used much for product naming — the only notable example being the iPhone 5C. With that Apple used C to stand for ‘cheap’ or also compact. Both of these are viable options, especially given that the Ronin-SC will use s smaller battery than the current Ronin-S.

New features?

A more compact, lighter (and hopefully less expensive) gimbal is already an improvement on the Ronin-S. But it looks like DJI is also planning some other upgrades. These include:

• Locks on each axis for easy transport
• Built-in screen for easier controls
• Motion control using your smartphone’s accelerometer
• More ‘smart modes’ and pre-programmed moves

Sadly built-in wireless video transmission (like offered with the Crane 3 LAB), seems unlikely. The FCC filing only lists the Ronin-SC as having Bluetooth and if DJI is positioning the SC as a Ronin-S Lite, they’ll want to keep the price down and not add too many additional features.

Conclusion

The DJI Ronin-SC will fill the current gap between the Osmo Mobile 2 and the Ronin-S. It’s more compact than the Ronin-S and will probably cost less too. However, it’ll also introduce some new features and design elements that improve the overall experience and provide a glimpse of what the Ronin-S 2 might look like if/when it is released.

Head over to DJI’s website and enter in your email to be notified when they officially launch the new Ronin-SC.