Recent electronics shortages appear to be clearing up, as the Raspberry Pi Foundation has announced that they think stock issues will clear up in 2023.
Stock for Raspberry Pi single-board computers has been scant at best since 2020. The ongoing global crisis having a knock-on effect on the electronics industry is slowly coming to a close.
To give you an idea of how bad the supply issue with Raspberry Pi 4Bs (the company’s flagship device) currently has over 2000 backorders for the 8GB device alone. This has also caused multiple instances of scalping across websites like Aliexpress and eBay.
Raspberry Pi’s CEO, Eben Upton, provided a blog today, with the title “Supply chain update – it’s good news!”
In Upton’s blog, he states that the company has managed to set aside around 100,000 units for consumers. The company has been prioritizing its commercial customers, with the 100,000 units for enthusiasts containing “Zero W, 3A+ and the 2GB and 4GB variants of Raspberry Pi 4”.
When asked about 8GB units, Chief Marketing Office Liz Upton stated:
“Chip allocations are coming in one by one.
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“We know when we’re getting them, so we can be confident that the supply will be there, but we don’t have our hands on everything yet.
“As you can see from the post you’re replying to, we won’t until early next year.”
The miniature version, Raspberry Pi Zero, is seeing a price increase in response to the ongoing cost raising in tech. Upton states that if the company were to continue to sell the Raspberry Pi Zero at its current price, it’d lose money on each unit sold.
Raspberry Pi Zero will increase by $5 to $10, and the Wi-Fi version will now be $15 from $10. The company raised the price of the Pi 2GB to $45 from $35 last year. This was the first price increase the company ever had to commit to.
No word has been given on the Pi Zero 2 W, which launched in 2021. This version provides better performance than the original, as well as comes with Wi-Fi as standard.
Raspberry Pi is currently under fire for its recent hire of an ex-cop who used the hardware in surveillance projects for the UK police force.
