The COVID-19 pandemic helped kick off a chip shortage that raged on for at least two years, with its effects beginning to wane by last year. That made it hard to buy a Rasberry Pi, among many other products, but availability of Pi devices might finally come back soon.
According to Raspberry Pi CEO, Eben Upton, in an interview with YouTuber Jeff Geerling, the company put together 750,000 Raspberry Pi units in the first quarter of the year. That isn’t a lot, but it also says that it’s on track for building 2 million units this second quarter, helping it fill backlogged orders and paving the way for “unconstrained” supply during the remaining half of the year. Ultimately though, it means that you should expect units such as the Raspberry Pi 4 to be more widely available by the end of this year.
The chip shortage was catastrophic for the company. While some other hardware manufacturers have figured out ways to keep a “constant” supply flowing, Raspberry Pi supply hasn’t really recovered. A $35 Raspberry Pi 4 can cost up to $100 coming from a scalper. That’s partially due to Raspberry Pi prioritizing orders from OEM customers (companies building products with Pi boards) over regular consumers.
If this is anything to go by, you might actually be able to buy your very own Raspberry Pi for a decent price… if you’re willing to wait a few months.
Source: ExtremeTech
