Raspberry Pi raises prices again as RAM shortages ripple outward

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.