Supply Chain Issues Lead to Raspberry Pi’s First-Ever Price Increase
Raspberry Pi has announced it is raising its prices — for the first time ever — as a result of supply chain issues and component shortages.
Raspberry Pi is the popular computing platform used by programmers, hobbyists and computer users around the world. It was originally marketed toward developing countries, as well as the education market, both of which often face budgetary constraints. Powered by ARM processors, the platform became widely popular outside its original target market.
One of Raspberry Pi’s main appeals has been its price, with its latest 2 GB Raspberry Pi 4 costing a mere $35. When the 2 GB Raspberry Pi 4 was first introduced, it initially sold for $45, with the 1 GB model selling for $35. The Raspberry Pi Foundation ultimately discontinued the 1 GB model and lowered the price of the 2 GB model to $35.
In a post for the foundation, Eben Upton says it is temporarily raising the price of the 2 GB to its original $45.
Unfortunately, cost increases caused by the current shortage mean that this product is not currently economically viable at this reduced price point. We are therefore moving it back to $45 on a temporary basis.
At the same time, the 1 GB model is coming back at $35.
To support the many industrial customers who have designed the 2GB variant of Raspberry Pi 4 into their products, we are reintroducing the 1GB variant at the $35 price point. This provides a degree of choice: less memory at the same price; or the same memory at a higher price.
Upton said the price hike is the result of supply chain shortages, the same changes impacting the entire tech industry.
Our own commercial team, our licensees, and our partners at Sony have done a great job keeping components coming in the door and products going out. But despite significantly increased demand, we’ll only end up making around seven million units in 2021: pretty much exactly what we did in 2020. The result has been a shortage of some products, notably Raspberry Pi Zero and the 2GB variant of Raspberry Pi 4.
