GoPro Might Not Survive the Year. Should You Still Buy One?

GoPro still makes the action camera more people recommend than any other. It also told the SEC, in a June 2026 filing, that there is "substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern." Both of those things are true at once, and if you're about to spend $400 on a HERO13 Black, the second one deserves a minute of your attention.

How Bad It Actually Is

The going-concern warning is not boilerplate. First-quarter 2026 revenue fell 26% year over year, and gross margin cratered to 4.3% — down from 32.3% a year earlier — as an AI-driven memory shortage sent chip costs up 80% or more and suppliers tightened availability. GoPro has already cut roughly 23% of its workforce, expects to breach loan covenants, and warned it will "continue to incur operating losses and negative operating cash flows." The stock, which neared $80 at its 2014 peak, has traded around a dollar; a company once valued near $4 billion is now worth a few hundred million.

The clearest signal came in July. On July 8, founder and CEO Nicholas Woodman moved to lend his own company $20 million through senior secured notes — the man whose name is on the box now personally funding it. "My financing reflects my enthusiasm for GoPro and its several go-forward opportunities," Woodman said, adding that he "strongly supports" the board's review of strategic alternatives. That review, run with investment bank Houlihan Lokey since May, openly includes a sale or merger. Tellingly, Woodman is barred from cashing in the deal's stock warrants for six months unless a buyout happens first — terms written, as Fstoppers put it, "as if one is coming."

Why This Matters to a Buyer, Not Just an Investor

A camera is not a stock, so here's the practical translation. The HERO13 Black in your cart will keep recording no matter what happens in the boardroom — the footage lives on the SD card and offloads to your phone. What's exposed is everything around the camera. As Fstoppers noted, who ends up owning GoPro "matters for firmware updates, subscription support, and whether the mounts and accessories you rely on keep shipping."

That's the real hedge to think about. GoPro leans hard on its Subscription — the cloud backup and the annual no-questions camera-replacement guarantee that many buyers factor into the price. Those perks are only as durable as the company or its eventual owner. Firmware improvements, Quik app support, and warranty service sit in the same boat. None of it is guaranteed to vanish. None of it is guaranteed to survive a restructuring, either.

The Fair Verdict

This is not a "don't buy GoPro" piece. The HERO13 Black earns its number-one spot on our community ranking, and the new MISSION 1 cinema line — 8K in a genuinely tiny body — shows the engineering isn't the problem. The smart move is simply to buy the camera for the hardware you can hold today, and to discount the future-facing extras rather than pay a premium for them.

And if company stability is part of your buying decision, you have excellent alternatives that aren't fighting for survival. The DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro and Insta360 Ace Pro 2 — the two cameras chasing GoPro at the top of our Best Action Cameras list — score within a hair of the HERO13 Black and come from companies that have been gaining ground, not losing it. See where the community lands, and cast your own vote, on our Best Action Cameras list.

Common Questions

Is GoPro going out of business?

Not yet, but the company itself raised the possibility in a June 2026 SEC filing, stating there is 'substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern.' It has hired investment bank Houlihan Lokey to explore a sale or merger, laid off about 23% of its workforce, and in July its founder personally lent it $20 million. GoPro is still shipping cameras and honoring warranties, but its financial position is genuinely precarious.

Should I still buy a GoPro in 2026?

If you want the camera for what it is today, yes — the HERO13 Black remains an excellent action camera and still tops Gavler's community ranking. The caution is about what you're counting on: buy it on the strength of the hardware and the mount ecosystem you can hold in your hand, not on the assumption of years of future firmware updates, cloud subscription perks, or resale value. Those all depend on GoPro, or whoever buys it, sticking around.

What happens to my GoPro if the company shuts down?

The camera keeps working — footage records to the SD card and offloads to your phone or computer regardless of GoPro's corporate health. The real risk is to the surrounding services: cloud storage and the camera-replacement guarantee bundled with a GoPro Subscription, ongoing firmware and Quik app updates, and warranty support. A buyer might keep all of that running, or wind it down. That uncertainty, not the camera bricking, is the thing to weigh.

Is DJI or Insta360 a safer bet than GoPro right now?

On corporate stability, yes. DJI and Insta360 have been taking action-camera market share from GoPro for years and are not in financial distress. On Gavler's list, the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro and Insta360 Ace Pro 2 sit right behind the HERO13 Black and score nearly as high. If long-term software support and company survival matter to you, they are the lower-risk picks.

What is GoPro's Mission 1?

The MISSION 1 series is GoPro's new line of ultra-compact 8K and 4K 'Open Gate' cinema cameras, built around a 50MP 1-inch sensor and a new GP3 processor. It shipped in late May 2026, with the MISSION 1 starting at $599.99 and the MISSION 1 PRO at $699.99. It represents GoPro's push to sell its imaging technology beyond helmet-and-surfboard action cams — but the launch hasn't yet reversed the company's financial slide.

What is the best action camera in 2026?

On Gavler's community-ranked list, the GoPro HERO13 Black leads with a 9.7 score, followed closely by the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro (9.6) and the Insta360 Ace Pro 2 (9.5). GoPro still makes the camera the community recommends most — the question this year is less which camera is best and more which company you want to bet on. See the full ranking on our Best Action Cameras list.