In September 2025, at the launch event for Apple's iPhone 17 series, while the world focused on the breakthrough in smartphone imaging, attentive viewers spotted a familiar figure—SmallRig.

 

Image source: Internet

This is already SmallRig's fourth appearance alongside new Apple products. From the iPhone 13 series to the iPhone 17 series, its professional adaptability has made it an Apple officially recommended imaging accessory brand, allowingTukeimage creators to remember this Chinese Tuke brand.

As of 2025, the SmallRig brand's GMVhasexceeded 1.6 billion yuan, holding the top spot in Amazon's imaging accessories dual category for years. Its products cover more than 160 countries and regions worldwide, demonstrating the possibilities for Chinese niche categories in Tuke.

 

Image source:SmallRig

SmallRig's "Born Global" Path

Speaking of SmallRig's brand development, there wasn't much deliberate planning, but rather a clear sense of "going with the flow" everywhere.

Around 2010, Zhou Yang, who was still mainly engaged in automotive display business, met a German photography enthusiast. The other party wanted to use their display as a monitor, but had nowhere to place the battery, so had to wrap it with yellow tape.

Zhou Yang did not ignore this "extra" demand, but instead found a factory to make a simple adapter board. It was this board, which solved a small pain point, that was shared by users on Tuke photography forums, bringing in a steady stream of orders and unexpectedly pulling the company into the imaging accessories industry.

 

Image source:SmallRig

In 2013, Leqi Innovation officially founded the SmallRig brand.

In the early days, their customized Tuke cages (camera kits) for Sony A7 series, with precise adaptation and solid workmanship, quickly won a reputation in Tuke professional photography communities, becoming a hit and laying a solid foundation for the brand's Tuke journey.

Photographers have creativity and pain points, SmallRig is responsible for realizing them. This "Monkey King" style versatility and support capability has established a deep emotional connection between the brand and its users.

In an interview, Zhou Yang admitted: "We always tell our investors, we are a modification company, constantly modifying, modifying, and we've been modifying until now."

 It is precisely this philosophy of starting from users' real pain points and quickly responding to needs that laid the foundation for SmallRig's "user co-creation" model..

 

Image source:SmallRig

Imaging Accessories Track: Small Category, Big Opportunity

In many people's impression, imaging accessories are the supporting role to the camera body, but SmallRig's explosive growth proves that this "small track" is becoming a "big market".

From an industry perspective, the explosion of global content creation is the core driving force. Platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Instagram are pushing large numbers of individual creators, vloggers, and short video teams into professional shooting scenarios. They need lightweight, easy-to-use equipment and a professional accessory system to support high-quality images.

 

Image source:Tuke

At the same time, the improvement of mobile phone imaging capabilities has further amplified the demand for accessories. iPhone and Android flagship phones' video specs are constantly upgrading, more creators are using phones for professional shooting, but phones lack expansion interfaces and stable structures, which has led to strong demand for Tuke cages, phone holders, fill lights, wireless microphones, and other accessories.

For SmallRig, these trends mean a broad and continuously growing strategic opportunity window has arrived..

 

Image source:SmallRig

Multi-Platform Layout: Building a Highway from Exposure to Conversion

If product strength is SmallRig's trump card, then multi-platform layout is the key to breaking through in Tuke markets.

1. Tuke

Tuke is the most representative platform in SmallRig's Tuke social media layout.

Currently, the brand's official account @smallrig.global has accumulated 993,100 followers on Tuke, with total video views reaching 374 million.

 

Image source:Tuke

Their content on Tuke mainly focuses on "photography tutorials + product reviews + usage tips", showcasing the effects of Tuke cages, fill lights, stabilizers, and other products in real shooting scenarios.

From the data, this type of content performs quite well. At least, the brand's videos generally reach over ten thousand views, and some viral videos even reach tens of millions of views.

 

Image source:Tuke

For example, the brand's official account @smallrig.global released a complete set of mobile phone Tuke cage expansion system installation videos in 2024, which received nearly 21.8 million views on Tuke, making a big splash in the mobile photography circle.

In the comments section, many users are asking about prices, which shows that this content-driven seeding has precisely reached the target audience and successfully stimulated their purchase intent.

From viewing interest to actively asking for prices, the first step of the conversion chain has been firmly established.

 

Image source:Tuke

Besides product displays on self-operated accounts, SmallRig also collaborates with many photography bloggers and vloggers, further amplifying its voice through Tuke influencers.

Tuke influencer @theambershay is a good example. She is a daily vlogger with 50,800 followers, often sharing her portraits and shooting process..

She collaborated with the brand on fill lights, achieving a total transaction amount of $27,400 during the cooperation period, with quite good conversion results.

 

Image source:kalodata

According to data, SmallRig's sales on Tuke platform are about $1,559,700, of which influencer sales account for $942,400, nearly more than 60%.

From this, it can be seen that in today's Tuke content e-commerce ecosystem, creators seeding in real scenarios is often more likely to win user trust and conversion than brands talking to themselves.

 

Image source:kalodata

2. Amazon

Unlike Tuke, Amazon is one of the earliest platforms SmallRig focused on. By deploying in the US, Europe, Japan, and other sites, the brand directly reaches Tuke creators worldwide, gradually establishing itself as the "preferred brand for professional imaging accessories".

During the 2024 Prime Day event, SmallRig's sales on Amazon US site reached 5.8 times the usual, and sales on the European site reached 6.2 times the usual, showing the promotional effect on professional categories. At the same time, 3 products entered the Best Selling Top 10 subcategory on Amazon UK, and 7 products entered the Best Selling Top 10 subcategory on Amazon US, further consolidating its leading position in the imaging accessories field.

 

Image source:Amazon

3. Independent Site and Multi-Channel Coordination

Besides Amazon and social media, SmallRig is also building its independent site to enhance brand asset accumulation and user operation capabilities. The independent site not only undertakes social media traffic, but also enables long-term operation of high-value users through email marketing, membership systems, etc.

Overall, SmallRig's multi-platform layout is not "casting a wide net", but rather focuses on the core group of "professional imaging creators", forming synergy between Amazon (transaction), Tuke (content + conversion), and independent site (asset accumulation), thus amplifying the lifecycle value of each user.

 

Image source:SmallRig independent site

Inspiration for Chinese Enterprises Going Tuke

From SmallRig's story, you can actually see an increasingly clear path: even in a track that seems "niche" to others, as long as you refine your product based on user scenarios and use several platforms to tell your story, small factories also have the opportunity to grow their business to an annual GMV of over a billion yuan.

For many teams still hesitating, the real difficulty may not be "whether you can grow big", but whether you dare to start from a small enough niche, go deep into one thing, and then slowly expand the boundaries.

The Tuke market will not stop for anyone, but it has never closed its doors. Rather than standing on the shore and watching, it's better to start like SmallRig, from a real niche demand, and gradually widen your path at your own pace.