GoPro's Hero 5 is expected to improve upon the wildly popular Hero 4's design that has already proven to be a hit, but we may have to wait until the end of the year to see the latest action video camera.
The current GoPro Hero 4 has helped the tech company capture almost three-quarters of the U.S. market, according to recent reports, allowing over 2.4 million units to be sold in the last quarter of 2014 alone.
While the GoPro Hero 5 doesn't have an announced release date just yet, all previous GoPro cameras have launched in the months of September or October, so that seems like a reasonable time frame for the latest camera to hit retail stores.
And with October still eight months away, that gives the GoPro team more time to tweak the latest camera to be exactly what current and future fans would expect from a GoPro product.
So let's take a look at the expected specs of the GoPro Hero 5. First up, it is rumored to house the A10 chip capable of capturing 4K video at 60 frames per second. That's an impressive feat considering the fact that no other action camcorder can say that they can record the same resolution at the same frame-rate. The current Hero 4 Black can go up to 4K resolution, but at 30 frames per second while the Silver edition can only record at 15 frames per second.
But even more impressive is the fact that 8K resolution is also rumored to be possible, albeit at a lower frame-rate. By October, more companies are thought to be utilizing 8K quality, so that capability will be important for the GoPro Hero 5. Also, you can adjust the frame-rate to be much higher if you're willing to go down from that 4K resolution. Expect 1080p HD quality at 120 frames per second and 720p quality at a whopping 240 frames per second.
Waterproof is also all the rage these days and the GoPro Hero 5 is expected to be waterproof up to 60 meters deep. This is especially important to those looking to take their extreme sports recording an extra 20 meters into the realm of underwater photography from what the current Hero 4 is capable of enduring.
Wi-Fi is also expected, as is Bluetooth 4.0 and an HDMI port for easy uploading. And with all of these added and improved features, it seems only natural that the Hero 5 would need a beefier battery. Fortunately, rumors point to a 2,800 mAh battery that could pump out an additional 1.5 times the life of the current model. The trade-off is expected to be in the new unit's weight.
3D technology is also a main selling point thought to be included in the Hero 5 as rumors point to a dual-lens set-up with the inclusion of advanced 3D capabilities.
One area that has proven successful for GoPro is in content creation. New videos are uploaded to the company's YouTube channel daily, earning it a place in Adweek's Top 10 Best Brand Channels on YouTube in 2014. The extreme sports videos on the channel help GoPro earn extra revenue in addition to that of the cameras. GoPro has since expanded to feature channels on Virgin America and Xbox Live.
All in all, with the rumored specs in mind and a launch date expected for fall of this year, the GoPro Hero 5 should pull in around $400 to $500 when it's all said and done. Competition is starting to heat up, though, as Apple, Canon, Sony, and others are looking to release similarly-specced action cameras in the near future.
