Raspberry Pi’s flagship single-board computer won’t see a major upgrade until early 2028, CEO Eben Upton confirmed in a Reddit AMA. The delay stems from a sustained global DRAM shortage that has already forced multiple price increases on existing boards. Upton cited the company’s historical release cadence of four to four-and-a-half years, placing the Pi 5 successor well beyond initial expectations.
Memory price inflation shows no near-term relief. Substrate shortages and AI chip production consuming wafer capacity across nodes have driven up LPDDR costs. This directly impacts board pricing and component availability—the Pi Zero 2 W remains intermittently scarce, though a new vendor arrangement should stabilize supply. A Pi Zero 3 is further out; its $15 price point cannot absorb newer, faster memory without sacrificing the single-sided PCB design that keeps costs low.
Upton pushed back against calls for dedicated AI hardware on the main board. “We’re big believers in the CPU as the venue for much edge AI compute,” he stated, arguing that faster CPUs and more efficient algorithms make general-purpose compute a better long-term bet than fixed-function NPUs. The company continues to offer modular Hailo-based AI HATs for users who need acceleration. The Pi 6 will deliver quantitative improvements—faster CPU, higher I/O bandwidth, greater DRAM throughput—while maintaining the same form factor.
The more significant shift may be off the main stage. Microcontroller shipments overtook single-board computer sales in 2025, driven by the RP2350’s release. CTO James Adams noted that development was tougher than expected, requiring a silicon stepping to fix a current leakage issue. Pico boards still use micro USB for cost and space reasons; USB-C will come eventually. As SBC prices climb, the microcontroller volume gap is expected to widen.
Software engineering remains the differentiator. CTO Gordon Hollingworth committed 95% of engineering time to libraries, drivers, kernels, and OS work. Users accept higher hardware prices because the platform delivers reliable documentation and deep community support. For now, the Pi 5 paired with AI HATs handles most workloads. The DRAM squeeze will pass. When it does, the next board will ship. Until then, the lineup holds, and the microcontroller business quietly leads.
Source: Webpronews