DJI Osmo Mobile 8P UK: £135 phone gimbal worth picking over Insta360

DJI’s new Osmo Mobile 8P phone gimbal lands in the UK at £135 for the Standard Combo, £169 for the Advanced Tracking Combo and £195 for the Creator Combo, all of which started shipping on 7 May 2026 directly from store.dji.com and authorised UK retailers. The headline feature is the detachable Osmo FrameTap remote with its own screen and joystick, paired with ActiveTrack 8.0 that DJI claims keeps a subject framed even when a crowd walks between the camera and the person being tracked. For a UK creator pricing up a smartphone-first vlogging setup against an Insta360 Flow 2 Pro, the maths is more interesting than the launch noise suggested.

What DJI actually changed for the Osmo Mobile 8P

The Osmo Mobile 8 only landed in November 2025, so a “8P” half a year later sits in awkward territory: not quite a refresh, not quite a new generation. The honest summary is that DJI has split the line. The original Osmo Mobile 8 stays on sale at Currys for £125 as the entry-level model, and the new 8P sits above it with three additions a UK creator actually pays for: the detachable FrameTap remote, the upgraded ActiveTrack 8.0, and the second-generation Multifunctional Module that broadens what the gimbal can track. The Module 2 now identifies cars, landmarks and pets as well as people, which matters for a UK travel vlogger filming a dog on a beach as much as for a marketing team filming a product walk-around.

The Apple DockKit support deserves more attention than the launch coverage gave it. Until now, DJI’s tracking only worked inside DJI’s own camera app on iPhone, which meant either accepting DJI’s camera UI or losing the tracking when filming in Filmic Pro, Halide, ProShot or Instagram. DockKit hands the gimbal control to iOS, so any app that taps in, including the native iPhone Camera app, can drive the gimbal’s pan and tilt. For a UK iPhone-led creator who lives in the native camera app, that single change reduces three workflow frustrations the previous Osmo Mobiles forced on the user.

UK price ladder against Insta360, Hohem and the older Osmo Mobile 8

The £135 Standard Combo undercuts Insta360’s Flow 2 Pro, which sits at £159 at most UK photographic retailers, while delivering a longer extension rod and the FrameTap remote that Insta360’s bundle does not include. The Hohem iSteady Mobile+ at £79 is a different conversation; it lacks both ActiveTrack-class subject following and a remote. The clearest like-for-like UK comparison is Insta360 Flow 2 Pro versus Osmo Mobile 8P Standard, and at £135 versus £159 the DJI bundle is the better starting point if FrameTap appeals.

The Advanced Tracking Combo at £169 adds the Module 2, which is where the real upgrade question sits. The Module 2 is a small magnetic puck that attaches to the back of the phone clamp and gives the gimbal its own optical tracker that does not depend on the phone camera. A UK fitness influencer recording themselves cycling along the Bristol-to-Bath cycle path, where the phone is held by the gimbal but the camera framing needs to follow a moving subject, gets a meaningfully better result with Module 2 than without it. For solo creators, that £34 jump from Standard to Advanced is the most defensible upcharge.

The FrameTap remote: useful, or showroom feature?

FrameTap is the new thing every reviewer is leading with, and it deserves the attention. The remote is a small detachable controller with its own monochrome screen, a joystick, dedicated buttons for record and recompose, and a slider that adjusts fill light if a creator is using the optional ring light accessory. It pairs over Bluetooth and gives a UK creator the ability to start a recording, reframe a shot or trigger ActiveTrack from up to 10 metres away, without crouching over the gimbal handle to tap the phone screen.

That sounds like a niche convenience until you film yourself once. A solo creator standing at a kitchen counter filming a recipe, or a UK personal trainer demonstrating a kettlebell swing in front of their phone, needs to start and stop the recording without breaking the take to walk back to the gimbal. The pre-FrameTap workaround was a wired or Bluetooth shutter remote that does not also handle reframing. FrameTap handles both, and adds the joystick, which means a creator can pan the gimbal during the take and trigger ActiveTrack to lock back onto them from across the room.

UK creator profiles: who should buy each combo

The £135 Standard Combo is the right pick for a UK creator who films themselves on their iPhone or recent Galaxy and wants a meaningful upgrade from a basic gimbal. It gets you FrameTap, ActiveTrack 8.0 and the new build with the wider tripod base. If you already own a Module 1 from the previous Osmo Mobile, you can keep using that with the 8P without buying Module 2, although the tracking will not be the Module 2 version. For most TikTok-first or Instagram Reels-first UK creators, the Standard Combo is enough.

The £169 Advanced Tracking Combo is the right pick for a UK creator who films themselves doing something physically demanding, where the camera needs to track a moving subject without a phone-app overlay. UK cycling vloggers, parkour filmers, kayak instructors, parent vloggers filming children’s birthday parties at home, all benefit from Module 2’s pet, person and object recognition. If your phone is older than an iPhone 14 or a Galaxy S23, Module 2 also offloads work from the phone’s neural engine, which extends battery life on the phone during long shoots.

The £195 Creator Combo is the right pick for a UK creator who needs broadcast-quality audio attached to a smartphone-first workflow. It bundles the DJI Mic Series receiver, transmitter, windscreen and accessories, which means a UK presenter can step away from the gimbal up to 250 metres while their voice still records cleanly to the phone. That is a different workflow shape: think property tours, factory walk-throughs, vlogging where the presenter narrates from outside the gimbal frame. If you already own a DJI Mic, save the £26 over Advanced Tracking and buy the Standard Combo plus the Module 2 separately at the DJI Store.

Phone compatibility and what the 386g actually feels like

The Osmo Mobile 8P supports phones from 170g up to 300g, with widths between 67mm and 84mm. That covers every current UK flagship, including the iPhone 16 Pro Max at 227g, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra at 232g, the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL at 232g, the OnePlus 13 at 210g, and the Xiaomi 15 Ultra at 224g. It also covers most case-on workflows, although a UK creator using a thick rugged case from OtterBox or Catalyst should measure first; some armoured cases push past the 84mm width limit and prevent the clamp from closing.

The 386g hand weight is the lower number, which a UK creator will appreciate after a full day of filming. The Osmo Mobile 7P was 368g; the 8P adds 18g for the FrameTap remote dock and the wider tripod base. For comparison, the Insta360 Flow 2 Pro weighs 369g, and the Hohem iSteady Mobile+ comes in at 410g. None of these are heavy by gimbal standards, but a creator filming a two-hour wedding montage at a UK country house will notice the difference between 386g and the older heavy DSLR-class gimbals at 1.2kg. The Osmo Mobile 8P is the lighter category.

UK availability, retailers and the warranty question

The Osmo Mobile 8P is shipping from store.dji.com in the UK from launch day, with free shipping and a 30-day returns window. Currys, John Lewis and Jessops have all listed the 8P with their usual product pages, and at the time of writing Currys is taking pre-orders on the Standard Combo at £135 with a Monday delivery window. Argos has not yet added the 8P to its catalogue, although it carries the older Osmo Mobile 8 at £125. Carphone Warehouse, now folded into Currys, redirects 8P searches to the Currys product page.

The DJI Care Refresh question is worth raising for any UK buyer. DJI offers a 12-month plan at around £15 for the Osmo Mobile 8P, with a 24-month plan at around £24. The plan covers one replacement during the year for accidental damage. For a creator who actually uses the gimbal outdoors, where dropping it onto cobbled streets or letting it tumble off a tripod into a puddle is a realistic risk, the 12-month plan is a sensible buy. For a buyer who only films at a kitchen counter, the standard one-year manufacturer warranty is probably enough.

The creative modes that change a UK creator’s day

DJI ships the 8P with four creative modes that go beyond plain stabilisation. DynamicZoom drives the gimbal and the phone’s optical zoom together to produce the dolly-zoom effect that Vertigo made famous, in a single take. Slow Shutter holds the camera still long enough to capture light trails of city traffic, which a UK creator filming a Liverpool, Edinburgh or central London night scene can use without a tripod. Action Shot biases the framing to keep a fast-moving subject in shot, useful for filming children at a park or a dog on a beach. Widescreen captures in 2.35:1 cinematic aspect ratio, with the phone re-cropped to the wider frame.

The honest summary for UK buyers

If you do not own a smartphone gimbal already, the Osmo Mobile 8P Standard Combo at £135 is the easiest recommendation in the category. FrameTap, the wider tripod and ActiveTrack 8.0 together add up to a gimbal that solves problems older Osmo Mobiles forced creators to work around. If you do own an Osmo Mobile 7 or 8 already, the upgrade is harder to justify unless you specifically want the FrameTap remote and Apple DockKit support. The gimbal mechanics themselves are not meaningfully better than the Osmo Mobile 8, and the tracking improvements are software updates that DJI may eventually backport to the older model through the Mimo app.

The buyer who should not buy the 8P at all is the buyer who only films other people, not themselves. A traditional vlogger filming product shots, environment shots or other people in their home does not benefit from FrameTap or ActiveTrack, because the framing decision is being made by the operator anyway. For that buyer, a cheaper Hohem iSteady or the older Osmo Mobile 8 at £125 from Currys delivers the same stabilisation result for less money. The 8P is a self-filming creator’s tool, not a generic stabiliser, and the UK price ladder reflects that focus.

For UK creators who are deciding between the Osmo Mobile 8P and Insta360’s Flow 2 Pro, the call is closer than the marketing suggests. Insta360’s tracking is genuinely the equal of ActiveTrack 8.0 in most lighting conditions, and Insta360’s app ecosystem is friendlier for editing on the phone. DJI wins on hardware: FrameTap is a bigger usability lift than anything Insta360 currently offers, and the wider tripod is meaningfully more stable on uneven ground. At £135 versus £159, the DJI is also £24 cheaper. For most UK buyers in 2026, that combination tips the call to the 8P.

UK reader FAQ

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Sources

• DJI press release, “DJI Delivers Pro Framing and Tracking with Osmo Mobile 8P”, 7 May 2026.
• DJI UK Store, Osmo Mobile 8P product page, accessed 2 June 2026.
• Camera Jabber, “DJI Osmo Mobile 8P price, specifications and release date announced”, 7 May 2026.
• DJI Osmo Mobile 8P UK product page
• Consumer Rights Act 2015
• DJI Care Refresh terms
• Currys DJI gimbal range
• HMRC self-employed expenses guidance
• Wex Photo Video DJI range
• Park Cameras UK