Where’s the GoPro Hero14 Black? For the first time in 10 years, GoPro didn’t launch a new flagship action camera

GoPro’s fall launches have gotten to be about as predictable as the iPhone’s, coming around every fall with a new flagship action camera. But 2025 was the first year that the company did not launch a new Hero Black flagship in nearly ten years, instead unveiling the long-awaited GoPro Hero Max2 360 camera alongside the budget-friendly GoPro Lit Hero.

In August, GoPro CEO Nicholas Woodman told investors that the company would launch two more cameras in 2025. The company had already indicated that the Max2 would come out in 2025, and looking back on the past launches had many suspecting – myself included – that a new Hero14 Black was coming.

But that didn’t happen – instead, GoPro launched the Lit Hero, a budget-friendly action camera with specs below the Hero13 Black except for the addition of a built-in LED light. GoPro’s Rick Loughery, SVP Global Marketing and Communications, indicated that the Hero13 Black will remain the flagship this year and that the series will continue to be updated in the future.

The September launch is the first time GoPro hasn’t launched a new Hero Black model in the fall since the two years between the Hero4 Black in 2014 and the Hero5 Black in 2016.

While the lack of a Hero14 Black took me by surprise, I don’t think the missing flagship is necessarily a bad thing because Woodman has already indicated that a prosumer low-light camera is coming in 2026.

“Another important area in an adjacent product category that makes sense for GoPro to play in, but that we do not currently participate in today,” Woodman said back in August, “is the higher-end low-light camera category for vloggers, prosumers, and professionals. That’s an exciting opportunity for us to participate in starting next year.”

The one area where GoPro has some serious competition is in low light, as options like the DJI Osmo Action 5 have a larger sensor. Launching a more pro-oriented camera with a larger sensor for better low-light performance could be a game-changing move for the company.

It’s unclear what a “higher-end low-light camera category for vloggers, prosumers, and professionals” may look like. But Woodman’s description as an “adjacent category” and comments that the Hero Black series will continue, suggest it may very well look unlike anything GoPro has launched before.

Ursurping the typical Hero Black launch schedule may not be a bad thing – especially if it leaves GoPro with the resources to experiment and expand into a new category. The Lit Hero is a surprise in more ways than just not being the Hero14 Black – it’s the first GoPro with a built-in light, and GoPro’s sample photos and marketing materials hint it's directing the model not just as a budget action camera but as an alternative to a retro compact camera. The sample images from the 12MP camera with a light look a bit like retro direct flash shots.

The next year could prove pivotal for GoPro as a company. Last year, the company reduced staff by 15 percent and posted an $80 million operating loss, and in March, Woodman declined his own salary for the rest of the year. At the time, Woodman told investors that he expected cost-cutting measures to help the company return to profitability in 2026.

The company's struggles, however, come at a time when video has become the dominant media format on many social media platforms, prompting a surge in vlogging cameras and video-focused models. If GoPro is able to find its footing with a high-end prosumer camera – and perhaps nab a bit of the compact camera craze with the Lit Hero – 2026 could prove to be a key year for the brand.

Both the Max2 and Lit Hero are available for pre-order.