GoPro Hero 5 Release Date Delayed? Cheaper Alternative Models More Practical?

Action sports enthusiasts have been waiting for the GoPro Hero 5's release date which was believed to be back in December. 

The company has yet to announce an exact launch and rival companies are catching up by offering cheaper alternative models.

Sources claim that the Hero 5 is ready to roll out, but GoPro is waiting on the release date of its other upcoming product, the Karma drone. 

It is speculated that two products will launch in the latter part of 2016, with the Hero 5 dropping in October.

According to BidnessEtc, an electronics market insider claimed that the simultaneous release of GoPro Hero 5 and Karma drone is a good marketing strategy for the company.

As per the publication, the Karma drone will be compatible with the Hero 5 and previous GoPro action cameras. 

This means that the Hero 5's release date should come before the Karma since consumers might think twice before upgrading their cameras and affect the new camera's projected sales.

The are also rumors that the Hero 5 will feature massive improvements but will still have a price tag close to the previous model. 

In fact, there are even speculations that the Hero 5 is being priced lower than the Hero 4. This, of course, stems from the cheaper alternative models that are being offered by rival companies.

However, GoPro CEO Nick Woodman claimed that the Hero 5 will still be the best the industry has to offer. 

"In software, you'll see the beginning stages of this new experience in the March release of our entirely new content management application, GoPro for Desktop," Woodman said in a statement published by ZDNet. "GoPro for Desktop represents a breakthrough in convenient offload, access and editing of GoPro content."

He also added that the company is improving their software so that users can share content better.

"It provides tools to easily sort large amounts of footage, as well as trim and share directly to Facebook, YouTube and other social media platforms," he added.

Stay tuned for more on GoPro's Hero 5 release date and its alternative models as updates become available.