In response to supply chain issues, especially around semiconductors, Raspberry Pi was forced to raise prices for the first time in its history.
The shortage of components therefore ultimately spares no one. Raspberry Pi has so far never raised its prices, even in the midst of a global pandemic coupled with a global semiconductor shortage, but was ultimately forced to give in. Nano-computers will now be a little more expensive.
For those who don’t know, the Raspberry Pi are a series of Linux single-board computers manufactured by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a UK charity whose goal is to educate people in computers and to facilitate access to computer education.
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Raspberry increases prices by 30% amid semiconductor shortage
Raspberry Pi has notably increased the price of the version of the Raspberry Pi 4 sold with 2 GB of RAM. The increase, which CEO Eben Upton says is the company’s first ever, will see the price of the Pi 4 2GB drop from $ 35 to $ 45, an increase of $ 10. The increase is significant, since it still represents 30% of the base price.
To meet the needs of customers on a tighter budget, company re-introduces $ 35 1GB Pi 4, which had however been abandoned last year. This decision is explained by the difficulties encountered by the supply chain. The price increase seemed inevitable. According to Upton, the new prices for the components needed to make the boards led to the sale of the Pi 4 with 2GB of RAM at $ 35 no longer economically viable.
Upton has also confirmed that the shortage will prevent it from matching 2020 sales, which stood at 7 million units. The company expects supply chain issues to persist for much of 2022, and that these particularly impact products which use a chip etched in 40 nm. Priority will therefore be given to Compute Module 3, Compute Module 3+ and Raspberry Pi 3B. The Raspberry 4, which uses a 28 nm chip, should be much more spared by the crisis, but we are not immune to a shortage of stock. For those who want a slightly atypical Raspberry Pi, Raspberry launched the Pi 400, a desktop PC integrated into a keyboard for less than 110 euros.
Source: Raspberry Pi