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Raspberry Pi eight years old today

Worth noting that today, 29th Feb, is now arguably just the second anniversary of the Raspberry Pi's release and that it is now eight years old. Their initial product as released in 2012 was amazing value and, on top of that, the Foundation points out the progress they've made since then:

----- From the website ----- Effective immediately, you will be able to buy a no-compromises desktop PC for the same price as Raspberry Pi 1 in 2012. In comparison to that original machine, we offer:

Two screens instead of one Dual-band wireless networking

And of course, thanks to inflation, $35 in 2012 is equivalent to nearly $40 today. So effectively you?re getting all these improvements, and a $5 price cut.

We?re going to keep working to make Raspberry Pi a better desktop computer. ----- End of text -----

That's from

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I might take issue with their description a "no-compromises desktop PC" but the development has been very impressive.

And, what's more, it's good to see they intend the developments to continue!

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James Harris
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James Harris
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Incidentally, I never expected the Pi 4's 2GB version to sell well, thinking that people would either choose the 1GB or the 4GB. So it's interesting to see the Foundation drop the price of the 2GB to match that of the 1GB. Prices are now

1GB $35 2GB $35 4GB $55 
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James Harris
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James Harris

The reason for this is a bit tortuous. The Pis are actually produced by two entirely different supply chains:

Most Pis are produced by the big distributors - Electrocomponents (RS/Allied), Premier Farnell, etc. They take out a licence from the Raspberry Pi Foundation and contract out manufacturing to Sony in Wales.

The Pi Zero and the Pi 4 1GB are produced by the Raspberry Pi foundation themselves - they contract manufacturing out with Sony directly, cutting out the distributors. They then sell them on to their own supply chain (Pi Hut, Pimoroni, Microcenter, etc). This allows them to be lower margin products than having a major distributor in the loop. They're produced on the same lines - when the lines aren't so busy producing for distributors the RPF takes up the slack and builds some Zeroes and 1GB Pi 4s.

Unfortunately the lines have been working flat out producing 2GB and (mostly) 4GB Pi 4, so there hasn't been any slack to make 1GB versions for the RPF (or the Pi Zero). This means they've been out of stock for a long time.

So I think the announcement means the RPF have managed to get costs down on the 2GB version enough to sell it at $35 through the usual distribution channels. And so they don't need to advertise a version that depends on slack on a line that's currently full and so you can't actually buy.

I'm not sure what this means for the Pi Zero - whether it will free up some capacity to make more, or if there's a replacement in the offing.

(The package of the BCM2835 chip of the original Pi 1 is more amenable to the form factor of the Zero than later BCM2836, BCM2837 or BCM2711 so upgrading the Pi Zero isn't straightforward)

Theo

Reply to
Theo

Very interesting, thanks for posting that.

They do say that the current Pi Zero will be in production until at least January 2026.

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Computer Nerd Kev

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