The sky's the limit for drone makers looking to tap into China's nascent drones market, with a research firm forecasting an over seven-fold increase in camera drone shipments over the next three years as the devices gain wider usage.

Research firm IDC recently said it estimates camera drone shipments in the Chinese mainland to hit 3 million units by 2019, up from their prediction of 390,000 shipments in 2016.



Jean Xiao, research manager at IDC China's Client System Research Group, told CNBC by phone, "Currently we can see that most drones in the Chinese market are used for photography. They are mainly applied in areas of media and consumer entertainment."



She added in the near future with necessary technology development and government policy support, "drones will have various vertical applications in areas of agriculture, education, transactionals, and more."



China is already home to prominent Shenzhen-based consumer drone maker DJI, which had a 68.5 percent market share for camera drones in the mainland in the third quarter of 2015 according to IDC. Other players include Yuneec and Shenzhen Zero UAV Technology, commonly known as Xiro, as well as EHANG, which unveiled a drone this year that has the capacity to carry a human passenger over short-to-medium distances.



In its research, IDC pointed out the following five characteristics that will shape the camera drone market in China by 2019: