Insta360's next camera may shoot orbiting video while stationary

If you've tinkered with a consumer 360 camera lately, chances are you have already tried the "round view" or "little planet" viewing mode in the companion app for a good laugh. But what if you could take things to the next level so that rather than spinning a 360 video on a fixed spot, you could actually spin around a subject such as yourself? That's the impression we're getting from an exclusive teaser video provided by Insta360 today.

You see, all four clips in the video orbit around a person with one arm sticking up, and it's most likely that there's a 360 camera stuck in the hand (it's invisible due to the nature of image stitching). And yet somehow, it's as if the camera is also flying though smoke and glitter in the first two clips, then under a flock of pigeons in the following clip, and finally around a boat in the last segment.

This is all rather mind-boggling, to say the least. If it weren't for the arm plus the lack of shadow, we'd be leaning towards this being a drone footage or some sort of clever selfie trick -- like swinging a camera around on a string? There's also the possibility of this feature being purely based on software which, if compatible, it'd make a sweet update for existing Insta360 users. But then again, this may require more onboard processing power so chances are slim.

Little else is shown in the video except for the "August 28" date plus the "everything epic in one" tag line towards the end. Furthermore, Insta360's updated homepage appears to be hinting at a new consumer-level 360 camera. We've tried poking for more information but the company reps wouldn't budge; all they added was that the footage shown here is non-final, which means there's more to look forward to when the big day finally arrives. And of course, when GoPro finally manages to launch its Fusion 360 camera, it'll be interesting to compare its reality-warping OverCapture feature with Insta360's upcoming trick.