Anyone buying a Raspberry Pi this Christmas could be in luck after the company unveiled a major influx of devices.
Announcing the news in a blog post titled “Supply chain update – it’s good news!” (opens in new tab)Raspberry Pi CEO Eben Upton said that 100,000 units have been secured for single unit sales (one unit per customer) and the Raspberry Pi Zero will be available for bulk purchase in 2023.
Upton added that following earlier supply concerns, Raspberry Pi also expects to be back to pre-pandemic levels in the second half of 2023, with single unit sales set to play a big part in helping the company to return to its “equilibrium stock level”. “.
Raspberry Pi power supply
“For the first time in a few years of hell of the semiconductor supply chain, we have good news for you,” Upton wrote.
“Thanks to our army of very patient enthusiastic customers ahead of the holiday season this year, we have been able to set aside just over 100,000 units across Zero W, 3A+, and the 2GB and 4GB Variants of Raspberry Pi 4 , for sale individually.”
The news isn’t all positive, though, as both the Raspberry Pi Zero and Zero W will see a $5 price hike.
Upton noted that given the Zero’s sheer minimalism, it had always offered very low margins and would “no longer be commercially viable at its original price”, given recent cost increases.
However, he added that once the stock issues were resolved, “we no longer expect to see the single-unit limitations that have been a hallmark of Zero since its launch in 2015 – you can buy as many as you want from a time.”
“While we’re not completely out of the woods yet, things are definitely getting better,” Upton added, reminding customers to always buy from an approved reseller to ensure they’re getting the right price.
“For a variety of reasons, we are exiting 2022 with much better visibility of our future silicon supply chain than we started with. As a result, we can say with confidence that, after a lean first quarter, we expect supply to recover to pre-pandemic levels. levels in the second quarter of 2023 and unlimited in the second half of the year.”