Drones are typically visualized as being large, commercial or military aircraft costing millions of dollars with equally complicated and expensive control systems. However, 2014 saw the introduction of a wide variety of small, relatively inexpensive, consumer-oriented drones, typically controlled by a simple control system or even using a smartphone or tablet. These consumer drones typically feature a high definition camera, a means of transmitting video or other data to the cloud or device, and a price tag of US$500 or less.

According to the Consumer Electronics Association, the market for consumer drones in 2015 is expected to grow to as large as US$130 million, up 55 percent from 2014. Overall, the association expects an average selling price of consumer drones to dip as low as US$325, a fairly significant reduction from 2014. The overall market is still in its infancy, with only four companies exhibiting at CES in 2014 and 16 exhibiting in 2015 – a far cry from the hundreds of vendors present in the many other categories at the show.

What is driving the industry? In part, the technology has become far less expensive and software developers have made the interface much simpler. Autonomous capabilities and IP have become more widespread and the spillover from military and commercial autonomous drone research has also become a significant enabler for the industry.

Second, but no less important, is the adoption of drones. While many new drone companies like Trace are focusing on extreme sports despite being an inherently small market, some are trying to break into other markets. Parrot, a market leader in the enthusiast space who sells its smartphone-controlled UASs for around US$500, has seen significant success in this market. Agriculture, real estate, sporting or other events and even the ubiquitous selfie trend, are increasingly seen as viable markets for drones to expand into.

Enabling this trend are the increasing ubiquity and inexpensiveness of a variety of sensors. The smartphone revolution, with the accompanying increase in the density of sensors, has made the component level much less expensive for prospective drone makers.

On the other hand, there are some concerns that could restrain the industry significantly, and the biggest by far is government regulation of airspace. While small consumer drones like Nixie are unlikely to run into trouble, larger drones are more likely to come under scrutiny from government agencies like the FAA in the US and the European Commission inthe EU. Larger consumer and commercial drones used in the agricultural industries have already been scrutinized, and sometimes banned, due to concerns about airspace usage.

The other concern is price; despite the expected drop in price for camera-equipped consumer drones in 2015, the lowest-priced drones in 2014 were still around US$400, a price that is quite expensive unless the buyer is a true enthusiast. Driving prices down must be a key facet of every company in the industry if large numbers of the devices can be expected to be sold.