For years, GoPro made a small camera attached to a helmet a staple of skiing, freeriding, snowboarding and mountain biking culture. Today, having lost sales, market capitalisation and ground to new competitors, it has just agreed a merger that will see some of its technology applied to artificial intelligence, robotics and defence.
Anyone who has skied over the last twenty years has probably used a GoPro, seen someone with one attached to their helmet, or watched hundreds of videos filmed with an action camera on a skiing YouTube channel.
For a long time, there was no need to explain what an caction camera was. It was enough simply to call it ‘a GoPro’, as they had capitalised on a unique product with no notable rivals. The US company achieved something that few technology brands manage to achieve:
“GoPro managed to turn its name into the name of an entire category.”
And he did so because he found a simple solution to a problem that was a huge challenge for action sports: how to show what the athlete sees and feels whilst in motion.
GoPro revolutionised action sports
The evolution of its cameras goes a long way towards explaining its market leadership over almost two decades. The first HD HERO, launched in 2009, marked GoPro’s definitive move into high-definition video; this was followed by the HERO2 in 2011, the HERO3 in 2012 and the HERO4 in 2014, generations that progressively improved resolution, connectivity and image quality, transforming the small action camera into an increasingly professional tool. The HERO5 Black, released in 2016, marked another turning point by incorporating electronic stabilisation, voice control and a waterproof design requiring no external case. But the biggest revolution for action sports probably came with the HERO7 Black in 2018. Its famous HyperSmooth stabiliser managed to eliminate much of the image shake through stabilisation so effective that it greatly reduced the need for a gimbal. That generation also introduced TimeWarp and live streaming. Next came the HERO9 Black, with 5K and a new generation of HyperSmooth (which we tested on snow in I Love Ski), the consolidation of the 360 format with the MAX and GoPro MAX2, and, finally, the current MISSION 1 cameras, with which GoPro has taken its technology in the direction of larger sensors, 8K and a field much closer to compact film production.
But it wasn’t all plain sailing. GoPro came in for heavy criticism for its Quik software ecosystem, particularly for connection issues, slowness and a strategy increasingly centred on subscriptions. Added to this was the paid cloud storage, which some users saw as an additional inconvenience after having already spent several hundred euros on the camera.
That wear and tear was not the only cause of its difficulties, but it was part of a wider problem: GoPro still had a very strong brand and a good product, but it was finding it increasingly difficult to turn all that into profitable growth. And that is where the story now enters a new phase.
On 1 September 2026, GoPro announced a merger agreement with Starman Optical, a US company specialising in photonics and optical transceivers. GoPro’s current shareholders will collectively receive $285 million in cash, retain approximately 10 per cent of the new shareholding structure, and GoPro’s debt of around $92 million will be repaid upon completion of the transaction. GoPro will remain listed on Nasdaq and says it will continue to develop cameras, subscriptions and cloud services. The deal brings to an end, at least financially, a very difficult period.
But to understand why one of the most recognisable brands in action sports has ended up needing this recapitalisation, we need to look beyond its financial statements. Perhaps we should no longer be focusing on how we film a ski run these days, but rather on how we edit and share it.
When GoPro turned POV into a language
GoPro’s greatest achievement was not merely to build a small, rugged camera. It was to enable millions of people to become both athletes and cameras at the same time.
The POV (point of view) changed the way we watched a ski descent. We were no longer just watching the skier from a slope opposite. We would follow them through the trees, see how they lined up for a jump or how the tips of their skis disappeared beneath the powder snow. GoPro understood that culture exceptionally well.
And for years, each new generation went on to improve precisely those limitations that mattered when it came to the different types of snow: stabilisation, battery life, durability, image quality and performance in cold conditions.
Here at I Love Ski, we saw this for ourselves back in 2020 when we tested the GoPro HERO9 Black on the snow. At the time, 5K video, HyperSmooth 3.0, improved battery life and greater stability made the HERO9 an extraordinarily effective tool for skiing (apart from the problems its battery caused in cold conditions). But that review already hinted at what was to come: comparisons with DJI and Insta360 were inevitable.
For a while, the competition could be summed up as a race to see who could offer the highest resolution, the best stabilisation or the longest battery life. Then the question changed.
It was no longer just about how to film whilst skiing. It was about how to get the best possible video without having to think too much about filming it.
That’s where 360-degree cameras brought about a particularly significant breakthrough for snow sports. With a conventional GoPro, you have to decide where to point the camera before you start your descent. If you positioned the mount incorrectly, you’d only end up with a shot of your helmet or the sky, and the shot would be ruined.
With an Insta360, you can record practically everything that’s happening around you and decide afterwards which way the camera is facing.
When we at I Love Ski took the Insta360 X4 out onto the slopes to test its 8K recording, that difference proved far more significant than the technical specifications. We could ski first and worry about selecting the frame, following the subject with Deep Track, locking the horizon or creating the well-known ‘invisible pole’ effect later on.
It’s certainly much bulkier and heavier than a GoPro, but you knew the effort wouldn’t be in vain. The camera doesn’t demand so much of your attention at the very moment you want to enjoy yourself, even if editing the video afterwards is a bit of a chore and the exported video doesn’t take up too much space on your hard drive.
The camera was no longer good enough
But let there be no mistake: GoPro never stopped innovating. In 2025, it made a strong comeback to the 360-degree market with the MAX2, featuring 8K video, 10-bit colour, interchangeable lenses and a battery designed to perform even in low temperatures. Here at I Love Ski, we were wondering at the time precisely whether the GoPro MAX2 could regain ground against Insta360 and DJI.
In 2026, GoPro has taken an even bigger leap forward with a camera that we haven’t yet had the pleasure of testing: the MISSION 1.
The MISSION 1 PRO features a 1-inch, 50-megapixel sensor, a new GP3 processor and recording capabilities of up to 8K at 60 fps or 4K at 240 fps. The MISSION 1 PRO ILS even allows you to use interchangeable Micro Four Thirds lenses. We are much closer to a tiny film camera than to that first action camera designed solely for use on a helmet.
“The problem is that having a technically excellent camera no longer guarantees that you’ll sell enough units.”
GoPro ended 2025 with $652 million in turnover, 19 per cent down on the previous year, and approximately two million cameras sold, a 20 per cent decline. The financial year ended with a net loss of $93 million.
The situation took a turn for the worse again during the second quarter of 2026: revenue fell by a further 31 per cent, to $105 million, whilst units sold to consumers fell by 38 per cent, to around 291,000 cameras.
Meanwhile, one of its main rivals was moving in the opposite direction.
Insta360 closed 2025 with revenue of approximately 9,741 million yuan, up 74.8 per cent, and during the first half of 2026 its turnover rose again by around 50 per cent. The Shanghai Stock Exchange specifically notes that products such as the X5, Ace Pro 2 and GO Ultra helped to drive this growth.
That doesn’t mean Insta360 has cracked the business. Its rapid growth is demanding huge investments in R&D, product development and marketing, and its profitability has suffered as a result. But it does show where the battle is currently being fought.
“Simply recording isn’t enough any more: you need to turn the footage into content that’s ready to publish, quickly and straight from your mobile.”
And the average user wants to get back to their hotel, open their mobile and have a spectacular video without spending two hours in front of the computer. Resolution still matters. But the time between having the experience and sharing it is becoming increasingly important.
That is where software, automatic tracking, 360-degree reframing and artificial intelligence have changed the competitive landscape. In some ways, it is reminiscent of what happened in the automotive sector: whilst part of the traditional industry was making more incremental progress, new Chinese manufacturers were racing ahead in software, electrification, batteries and the digital experience. GoPro found itself in a similar situation: it continued to dominate the action camera market, but was now competing against companies that were redefining what users expected from the product at a much faster pace.
Starman doesn’t just buy one brand of cameras
GoPro’s financial situation ultimately created a sense of urgency. In its second-quarter results, GoPro acknowledged that there were substantial doubts regarding its ability to continue as a going concern for the next twelve months without further financing. It had also announced a reduction of approximately 23 per cent in its workforce and engaged advisers to explore a sale, a merger or other strategic alternatives.
That is why the deal with Starman should be understood first and foremost as a recapitalisation. The agreement writes off approximately 92 million dollars of debt and provides the company with a new financial structure.
But Starman does not seem to be interested solely in selling more HERO cameras either. Over the past 24 years, GoPro has accumulated more than 2,500 US patents relating to imaging, optics and associated technology. The merged company also intends to utilise these capabilities in sectors such as robotics, aerospace, defence and government applications.
Starman brings something different to the table: it manufactures optical transceivers. Put simply, these are components that enable huge amounts of information to be transmitted using light. Data centres used for artificial intelligence need to move vast amounts of data between servers and processors, and doing so quickly requires an ever-increasing amount of optical infrastructure.
Starman New Photonics is investing $150 million in a plant of approximately 100,000 square feet in New Jersey, with plans to create around 250 jobs and manufacture high-speed transceivers there specifically for this industry.
The new GoPro will therefore bring together two very different worlds under one roof. On the one hand, cameras, creators, action sports and subscriptions; and on the other, photonics, AI data centres, robotics and defence.
“GoPro didn’t lose its edge because it stopped knowing how to make cameras. It lost it because the market it had created was no longer competing solely on the basis of cameras.”
Furthermore, GoPro reported this year its first $2 million in revenue from licensing content for artificial intelligence applications. Its revenue from subscriptions and services also grew by 11 per cent in the second quarter, reaching $29 million, and already accounted for 28 per cent of revenue for the period.
But it perfectly illustrates how the value of everything GoPro has built up over two decades is changing.
