Raspberry Pi 4 gets a major price cut and a USB-C upgrade

Raspberry Pi Foundation is responsible for the arrays of Raspberry Pis SBCs that have flawed the single board computer market and the launch of the Raspberry Pi 4 last year, shows the continuing growth for the Raspberry Pis and doesn’t seem to back down anytime soon.

The first Raspberry Pi 1 (Raspberry Pi 1 Model B) was launched in February 2012, and February 2020 marks the eight-year of innovation in a row. The goal of the Raspberry Pi was to build quality single-board computers that can be used for STEM education, computing, electronics, and even industrial at a low price point, which was something achieved throughout the years. Unfortunately, the Raspberry Pi 4 change all that with the Raspberry Pi 4 4GB RAM version priced at $55, and even the 2GB model costing $45, with only the 1GB version remaining at $35.

The Raspberry Pi foundation has now made an exciting announcement that drops down the price of the Raspberry Pi 4 2GB to the customary $35 without any loss in quality or performance. The previous $45 priced Raspberry Pi 4 will now cost $35 only. One question that might come up is what will now happen to the 1GB version, which cost $35, according to the Raspberry Pi foundation, nothing is going to happen to it.

In line with our commitment to long-term support, the 1GB product will remain available to industrial and commercial customers, at a list price of $35. As there is no price advantage over the 2GB product, we expect most users to opt for the larger-memory variant.

With both 2GB and 1GB of the Raspberry Pi 4, it’s only a matter of time before the poor 1GB version goes into oblivion.

RPI 4 Type-C issues fixed

That’s not all, there is good news for prospective buyers of the diminutive Raspberry Pi 4 as the USB-C issue that stopped the device working with some power supplies has been fixed has published on The Register. After the launch of the RPi 4 in June of last year, it was observed that some of the devices complain about errors in the detection circuitry on the Pi causing certain unofficial power adapters to mistake the SBC for an audio device, and therefore not shove the expected power down the line.

Raspberry Pi co-founder and Raspberry Pi Trading CEO Eben Upton confirmed to the publication after an inquiry that the update had been rolled into a PCB Design for Manufacturing (DFM) process and it’s expected the next RPi 4 purchased will already have this new fix. Accompanying the fix is an update on the WLCSP SD card voltage switch, the new release also moved “the WLCSP SD card voltage switch to the top side” to protect it from damage, and also implemented “silkscreen tweaks to reduce solder bridging in the manufacture.”

More information about the announcement is available on the Raspberry Pi blog page, and the Raspberry 4 Model B with 2GB RAM is now available for purchase for $35 here.

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