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| Raspberry Pi raises prices again as RAM shortages ripple outward | |
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| Raspberry Pi CEO Eben Upton announced new price increases tied to memory costs, with larger hikes for higher-RAM models. Here’s why RAM shortages hit small computers hard and how to think about timing a purchase. | |
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| Raspberry Pi raises prices again as RAM shortages ripple outward | |
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| Raspberry Pi has announced another round of price increases, blaming higher memory costs as shortages spread beyond data centers and PC parts into embedded and hobbyist hardware. Ars Technica reports this is the company’s second broad hike in two months, with the steepest increases landing on the highest-RAM boards. | |
| It’s a reminder that “AI chip demand” doesn’t just affect GPUs. When memory pricing tightens, anything that depends on LPDDR packages—tiny computers, routers, and industrial systems—can get more expensive quickly. | |
| What prices are changing | |
| Ars cites Raspberry Pi CEO Eben Upton’s announcement that most Pi 4 and Pi 5 boards with 2GB or more of LPDDR4 RAM are going up again. | |
| The reported increases: | |
| 2GB models: +$10 | |
| 4GB models: +$15 | |
| 8GB models: +$30 | |
| 16GB models: +$60 | |
| Ars notes this pushes the 16GB Pi 5 to $205, with 8GB versions of the Pi 4 and Pi 5 rising above $100. | |
| Why higher-RAM models get hit hardest | |
| The bill of materials for a single-board computer is dominated by a few components: | |
| The main SoC | |
| The RAM | |
| Power management | |
| PCB and connectors | |
| When RAM pricing spikes, the effect is nonlinear. A 16GB model doesn’t just have “more” RAM; it can require different packaging, sourcing, and yield considerations. If those parts are constrained, the premium grows. | |
| How AI demand translates into consumer price hikes | |
| Even if Raspberry Pi boards aren’t competing directly with AI training clusters, they can be competing for the same upstream supply of memory dies and packaging capacity. | |
| When hyperscalers and AI labs buy huge volumes, suppliers prioritize those contracts, and everyone else faces: | |
| Longer lead times | |
| Higher spot-market prices | |
| More frequent “allocation” (limited shipments) | |
| That’s why price changes can come in waves—first the enthusiast PC market, then edge devices. | |
| What buyers can do (without panic-buying) | |
| If you’re a hobbyist or educator, the best move is usually to reduce exposure to the highest-premium SKUs: | |
| If your project doesn’t need 16GB, don’t pay for it. | |
| Consider used boards or earlier generations if compatible. | |
| Plan purchases around teaching cycles and build buffers when possible. | |
| If you’re buying for a business or deployment, treat these boards as supply-chain items: | |
| Qualify alternates where feasible. | |
| Pin versions and configurations. | |
| Avoid designs that depend on one exact SKU. | |
| What to watch next | |
| Two signals matter: | |
| Whether memory prices stabilize later in the year | |
| Whether Raspberry Pi can secure long-term supply contracts that smooth volatility | |
| If shortages persist, price hikes may broaden to other small computers and IoT platforms. | |
| Bottom line | |
| Raspberry Pi’s new price increases are a downstream effect of a tight memory market. If you can build with less RAM or alternate boards, you may avoid the worst of the hikes—but for high-memory Pi models, the “cheap tiny computer” era is temporarily on hold. | |
| Sources | |
| https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/02/ongoing-ram-crisis-prompts-raspberry-pis-second-price-hike-in-two-months/ | |
| https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/more-memory-driven-price-rises/ | |
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| Hair samples over a century show how regulations cut lead exposure | |
| A judge ruled the DOE climate working group was illegal—here’s why that matters | |
| Raspberry Pi CEO Eben Upton announced new price increases tied to memory costs, with larger hikes for higher-RAM models. Here’s why RAM shortages hit small computers hard and how to think about timing a purchase. | |
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