On Thursday, three of the lead Raspberry Pi engineers hosted an AMA on the r/engineering subreddit.
Raspberry Pi 6
Some of the fascinating tidbits was on the Pi 6.
Wanting again at earlier launches:
2012: Raspberry Pi2015: Raspberry Pi 2 (+3 years)2016: Raspberry Pi 3 (+1 12 months)2019: Raspberry Pi 4 (+3 years)2023: Raspberry Pi 5 (+4 years)
Following that cycle, one would count on a Pi 6 3-4 years after the Pi 5, which might put it in 2026 or 2027.
My guess is Pi 6 growth is already fairly far alongside… however there’s that pesky world DRAM scarcity that makes this a nasty time to launch a brand new pc. There is not any sense in releasing an SBC that prices twice as a lot because the $50 Pi 5.
Eben stretched the timeline a bit to 4-4.5 years, and indicated a Pi 6 would not come earlier than early 2028… which suggests the Pi 5 will stay Pi’s flagship for some time.
And when you’re anticipating a built-in M.2 slot or extra ports, I would mood your expectations: It feels like the important thing function can be ‘extra’: a quicker CPU and quicker IO, quite than new options.
And as an alternative of squandering precious silicon with an NPU, Eben stated they see the “CPU as a venue for AI compute.” So I do not count on any particular AI chip on the Pi 6.
Pi Zero 2W and three
When requested in regards to the Pi Zero 2W, Eben stated the substrate provide is constrained—principally, so many AI chips are being made that even older chips utilizing older course of nodes need to battle for the precise silicon wafers to make use of to make the chips.
They’re mentioning a brand new vendor to assist with capability, so the present Pi Zero 2 W scarcity ought to be short-term.
It would not sound like a Pi Zero 3 is on the horizon but, for 2 causes:
They want to surrender on the single-sided PCB, which provides somewhat price, as a result of the chips they’ve that stack a RAM die on high of the CPU to save lots of board area won’t work with quicker CPUs.Newer LPDDR RAM is means too costly for the $15 Zero value level proper now.
The explanation the Pi Zero 2 W can nonetheless hit its value level—at the very least when it is in inventory—is its use of previous LPDDR2 RAM, of which Raspberry Pi apparently has a stockpile.
When somebody talked about the Pi 3B as a lower-cost various to the Pi 4 and Pi 5, Eben stated it is nonetheless a preferred mannequin, “promoting almost 1,000,000 items a 12 months.” That, regardless of being launched over a decade in the past.
Microcontrollers (MCUs)
James Adams stated energy and safety had been tougher than anticipated, growing the RP2350 microcontroller. However their efforts appeared to have paid off, particularly after a brand new ‘stepping’, or silicon revision, which mounted a present leakage bug.
When requested about why Picos use micro USB and never USB-C, he stated it is a price subject. USB-C connectors are dearer than micro USB, whereas additionally taking a tiny bit extra board area. That stated, USB-C will most likely occur sometime.
Eben additionally talked about microcontroller shipments lastly surpassed Pi SBC gross sales in 2025. The hole might be widening this 12 months, as Pi costs proceed going up.
Software program and Firmware
Just a few occasions within the thread, Pi engineers talked about the software program aspect being integral to having {hardware} expertise, and Gordon Hollingworth—Pi’s CTO of Software program Engineering—vowed to spend 95% of software program engineering time supporting and growing libraries, drivers, kernels, and OSes.
If there’s one factor the place Raspberry Pi excels versus different embedded corporations, it is software program assist. That is the explanation individuals may nonetheless pay extra for a Pi product, regardless of the dearth of recent {hardware}.
