The end of the Hero Black? GoPro says its flagship action cam isn’t dead despite skipping it for 2025

2025 is the first year in a decade with no new Hero Black action cam
GoPro launched the Max 2 360 camera and the entry-level Lit Hero instead
GoPro says the Hero Black story is not over

New GoPros in September is one of tech’s few certainties, but 2025 just dealt out a big surprise – it will be the first year in a decade without a new Hero Black flagship.

Ready for the Hero 14 Black unveil, we instead received news of the new GoPro Max 2 and GoPro Lit Hero. The former 360 camera is the long-awaited successor to 2019’s Max, while the latter is an upgrade of the entry-level Hero 2024.

We asked GoPro for comment about its Hero Black series plans, and its SVP Global Marketing and Communications, Rick Loughery, told us,

“For 2025, GoPro will continue with Hero 13 Black as our lead flagship camera. The speed of our tech innovation has been incredible over the last few years, and we believe Hero 13 Black remains one of the most advanced and capable cameras on the market.

“We are focused on prioritizing the camera that our GoPro community is most eager to add to their content toolkit, and this year it’s Max 2. And if 360 isn’t what you’re after, Lit Hero also satisfies the need for a more traditional action camera in this year’s lineup.”

GoPro assured us that the Hero Black story isn’t over. However, there could be testing times ahead for the action camera king, with speculation that DJI will launch the Osmo Action 6 soon, featuring a GoPro-beating 1-inch sensor, 8K video, and advanced smartwatch integration.

GoPro Hero 13 Black with Ultra Wide Lens Mod being attached

I’m a big fan of the swappable lens design of the Hero 13 Black – there are a few auto detected lenses to choose from, including macro and anamorphic. However, the series’ internals have remained largely the same for several iterations. (Image credit: Future | Tim Coleman)

Is the legendary line of action cams slowing down?

GoPro set the action cam standards for years, delivering industry firsts in its flagship series of Hero Black cameras. Since 2016’s Hero 5 Black, there has been a fresh model each year around September, culminating in the Hero 13 Black last year.

There have been recent signs that the series is slowing down, with the last few models bringing iterative updates and using the same stabilized 4:3 sensor for smooth 5.3K video. At the same time, fresh players have entered the scene: DJI and Insta360.

Currently, there’s a tasty three-way battle for the best action camera, between GoPro’s Hero 13 Black, the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro, and the Insta360 Ace Pro 2.

Each brand has its own take on the format, and I’m actually a big fan of the latest GoPro, not least of which for its swappable lenses – one of GoPro’s best new features in years. The Hero 13 Black is otherwise similar to the Hero 12 Black, which was also a super modest successor of the excellent Hero 11 Black.

To be clear, I don’t mind GoPro extending the cadence of its flagship action cam series launches. I feel the same about leading smartphones by Apple, Samsung, and Google – do we really need a new model every year?

I’d rather GoPro take its time to work on meaningful upgrades for a future model, presumably a Hero 14 Black. It just feels strange that there’s no new model this year – a new Hero Black is something we’ve got used to seeing each fall.

What do you think about GoPro’s 2025 product launches and the absence of a new Hero Black flagship? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.