Zhiyun Smooth 5S AI smartphone gimbal features new AI tracking

Zhiyun has announced the new Zhiyun Smooth 5S AI (buy here). It’s their newest smartphone gimbal, with advanced AI subject tracking. On the front, there’s an all-in-one control panel with a wheel on the side for focus and other adjustments.

This 3-axis gimbal design of the Smooth 5 series more closely resembles larger camera gimbals in design rather than typical smartphone gimbals. But with its integrated smartphone bracket and fill light, it’s clear who this gimbal is targeted towards.

Zhiyun Smooth 5S AI – For smartphone filmmakers

Filming on our smartphones is an everyday occurrence for many of us today. Whether we’re vlogging for YouTube or just shooting memories for home movies, we often use our phones for video. And we want good quality. This is backed up by the existence of apps like Blackmagic Camera – which is now available on Android, not to mention the new Final Cut Pro life multicam features.

There are a lot of gimbals on the market for smartphones these days. Zhiyun makes quite a few of them themselves. But the Smooth 5S AI seems geared particularly towards a more creative, filmmaker-style smartphone video shooter. After all, it’s based on the Smooth 5S, which is also targeted towards that audience.

It features an intuitive control panel on the front with various buttons and dials. You can easily access menus, sift through settings, and control your smartphone’s camera. Start-stop recording, adjust exposure, manually take over the position and more.

Zhiyun Smooth 5S AI subject tracking

The big new feature on the Zhiyun Smooth 5S AI is obviously the “AI” bit. It sports new AI subject tracking features to ensure that the camera always stays on target. Zhiyun says the new AI tracker has a magnetic attachment, allowing it to quickly be pointed forward to film others or towards you to film yourself.

The company also says that with the assistance of the new AI tracking features, the Smooth 5S AI offers “unparalleled stabilisation […] for smooth and professional-quality footage”. Certainly a big boast, but one that Zhiyun is likely to be able to live up to.

The Zhiyun Smooth 5S AI isn’t the first smartphone gimbal to feature AI tracking. That honour goes to the Insta360 Flow ($146). This gimbal brought some very impressive AI tracking that was very difficult to confuse. It succeeded in many situations where competing manufacturer gimbals failed and lost their target.

But Zhiyun has now answered that challenge with the Zhiyun Smooth 5S AI. I’d be very interested to see how this stacks up against the Insta360 Flow once it starts getting into people’s hands.

Price and Availability

The Zhiyun Smooth 5S AI is available to buy in three packages. Items begin shipping this month. The basic package is $169, including the gimbal, mini tripod and USB cable. The Combo Package is $219 and includes everything in the basic plus the magnetic AI tracking unit. The Pro Package costs $249 and includes everything in the Combo plus a magnetic fill light and filter set, a wrist strap and a case to keep everything in.