MW Test driving that drone or just renting? Why the Chinese government needs to know.

Tanner Brown

Young Chinese are renting cameras, drones and camping gear instead of buying them. It's a clever way to save money - but also the latest challenge to Beijing's effort to get consumers spending.

Visitors consider local manufacturer DJI's offerings at the Drone World Congress in Shenzhen, in China's Guangdong province, in May.

For a three-day trip to Taiyuan this spring, a Chinese college student named Yanli Wang wanted something better than her phone for photos.

She could have spent more than 3,000 yuan, or about $420, on a DJI Pocket 3 camera. Instead, she rented one for 65 yuan - less than $10 - and returned it when the trip was over.

"Everyone complimented my photography skills," she reported.

DJI, the Shenzhen-based company that dominates the global consumer market for drones, also makes handheld cameras and other imaging gear.

Across China, young consumers are applying the same logic to a growing list of products they would like to use but don't necessarily need to own: drones, cameras, ski equipment, camping gear, designer handbags, wedding dresses, toys and even elaborate costumes worn for a few social-media photos.

China has a phrase for it: yi zu dai mai, or "rent instead of buy."

And it is taking off.

It is also becoming serious business. China's rental economy topped -Yen4.2 trillion, or roughly $585 billion, in transactions in 2024, according to a report from a research center under the country's market regulator. Rental services logged more than 750 million uses.

The momentum has continued. On the e-commerce "superapp" Meituan (HK:3690) $(MPNGY)$, searches for camera rentals have jumped 67% in 2026 from a year earlier, while searches for drone rentals increased more than tenfold. Nearly 70% of rental searches came from people ages 20 to 35.

A China Youth Daily survey released this year found that 77.3% of 1,334 young respondents had rented something instead of buying it. Among those born after 2000, the figure was 82.2%. Electronics - including cameras, computers and drones - were the most popular category, followed by outdoor equipment.

On Xianyu, Alibaba's (HK:9988) $(BABA)$ sprawling secondhand marketplace, rental orders have increased more than tenfold in three years, according to the platform. Orders in April were more than double their year-earlier level.

The appeal isn't difficult to understand.

A young photographer in Qingdao told state media he could rent a drone for a little over -Yen40 a day and a DSLR camera for about -Yen50. An entire set of gear cost less than -Yen100 a day, versus tens of thousands of yuan to buy.

Others are treating rentals as test drives. One young consumer interviewed by Shanxi Evening News said he rented a DJI Pocket 3 while waiting to see whether the company's next model would be worth buying.

That distinction matters for manufacturers. Renting can eventually create a sale. A camera-shop customer interviewed by CCTV said she had repeatedly rented cameras before finally showing up to buy one.

But it can also eliminate the sale altogether.

That is an awkward wrinkle for Beijing. The Chinese central government has made persuading households to spend more money an economic priority.

China's retail sales were up just 0.6% from a year earlier in July, slowing from a 1% rate in June. Years of falling property prices and economic uncertainty have made Chinese households cautious about big purchases, even as Beijing tries to shift more of the economy toward consumption.

For consumers, renting offers an anxiety workaround: You can have the experience without the commitment.

Zhu Di, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who studies consumer culture, said young Chinese are moving away from the old extremes of simply giving up on something they can't afford or borrowing heavily to get it. Instead, they bargain, share and rent.

"This reflects a more mature and pragmatic consumer attitude among today's young people," Zhu said.

There are limits to the romance of the rental economy. Chinese consumer authorities and media have warned about damaged equipment, murky compensation rules, deposits that are difficult to recover and personal data left behind on rented electronics. Crashing someone else's drone can turn a cheap weekend rental into a very expensive one.

Still, the trend captures something larger about the Chinese consumer in 2026.

Young people haven't necessarily stopped wanting nice things. They want the DJI camera, the designer bag and the skis.

They've just figured out they don't have to buy them.

Tanner Brown covers China for MarketWatch and Barron's.

More Tanner Brown dispatches:

China's weird new economic spark: Toy elves and robocops

China's next export shock walks on two legs - and costs less than a used car

China's middle class is quietly stockpiling cash - 'shadow saving' - and it could short-circuit the global economy

Yes, consumers in China are consuming again. It's just not their No. 1 priority these days.

-Tanner Brown