2024 Raspberry Pi Year-End Roundup

It's time for an annual update on the happenings in the Raspberry Pi ecosystem. Let's look at some of the key events of 2024.

Last year saw the long-awaited release of the Raspberry Pi 5. While a Raspberry Pi 6 is not expected in the foreseeable future, the Raspberry Pi Foundation did not rest on its laurels and still managed to release many new add-ons and related products during the year. Here is a summary, mostly in chronological order of release.

The M.2 HAT+ allows you to connect M.2 peripherals such as NVMe drives and AI accelerators to the Raspberry Pi 5's PCIe 2.0 interface, supporting fast data transfers to and from NVMe drives and other PCIe accessories. I had not previously heard of M.2; it is a specification for internally mounted computer expansion cards and associated connectors. M.2 replaces the Mini SATA (mSATA) standard and the Mini PCIe (mPCIe) standard (the name M.2 is derived from Mini SATA 2).

The Pi Pico 2 is an update to the popular Pi Pico microcontroller. It offers double the RAM and flash memory of the original Pico. Other upgrades include faster ARM CPU cores and the option to enable RISC-V CPU cores. The retail price remains at US$5.

The Raspberry Pi 5 was initially released in versions with 4GB (US$60) and 8GB of RAM ($US80). The cost of the memory is a significant portion of the product cost, and for some applications less RAM is acceptable. A 2GB version was released retailing at US$50 to accommodate this.

With the current interest in AI, it is no surprise that the Raspberry Pi Foundation would release some products supporting AI and machine vision. The Raspberry Pi AI Camera uses Sony’s IMX500 Intelligent Vision Sensor to support creating vision AI applications and neural network models using the on-module AI processor. The camera software stack allows programmers to develop their own neural network modules and includes documentation to get started with pre-packaged or custom neural network models.

The Raspberry Pi normally uses a MicroSD card for mass storage. These are widely available but not all MicroSD cards are the same and the choice can have a big impact on performance and reliability. Due to customer demand, official SD cards are now available in 32, 64, and 128GB capacities. These are speed class A2 cards that support a feature called command queuing (CQ) which optimizes performance. You can order them pre-programmed with the Raspberry Pi OS if desired.

For mass storage with higher performance, capacity, and reliability than that provided by an SD card, the previously mentioned M.2 HAT+ can interface to a PCIe SSD (Solid-State Disk). The Raspberry Pi Foundation introduced official SSDs, available in 256GB and 512GB capacities. For a turnkey solution, they also offer the Raspberry Pi SSD kit which bundles the M.2 HAT+ with an SSD.

Back to the topic of AI, another related product release was the Raspberry Pi AI HAT+ which features a built-in neural network accelerator. It is available in two models with different levels of performance (13 or 26 trillion operations per second or TOPS). Support is provided for common frameworks like TensorFlow and PyTorch, allowing you to develop a wide range of AI-powered applications. It should be noted that this product essentially replaces the older Raspberry Pi AI Kit which offers a 13 TOPS neural network accelerator connected via an M.2 HAT+.

The official Raspberry Pi Touch Display has been updated to the Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2, a 7-inch 720x1280 display and capacitive touchscreen. It is supported by the Raspberry Pi OS including five-finger touch and on-screen keyboard and is easy to connect to a Raspberry Pi.

Even though USB mice and keyboards are widely available commodity items, the official units from the Raspberry Pi Foundation are popular due to their high quality and industrial design that matches other Raspberry Pi products. In the same vein, the new Raspberry Pi USB 3 Hub offers a product that is high-quality, attractive, and tested to work with all Raspberry Pi products. It expands a single USB-A port into four. It also supports optional external USB-C power input for use with higher-power peripherals that can't be directly powered by the hub.

Later in the year, we saw the release of the Pi Pico 2 W, a variant of the Pi Pico 2 which has onboard 2.4 GHz 802.11n wireless LAN and Bluetooth 5.2 support, at a retail cost of US$7.

Possibly the most anticipated release of the year was the Compute Module 5, an update to the Compute Module 4 based on the Raspberry Pi 5 hardware. You can purchase just the module (with various options for wireless, SDRAM, and eMMC flash), or a complete development kit which includes a Compute Module 5, power supply, I/O Board, wireless antenna, case, cables, and heatsink.

You may be familiar with the Raspberry Pi 400, a standalone computer that is essentially a Raspberry Pi 4 built inside a Raspberry Pi keyboard. With the release of the Raspberry Pi 5, it was anticipated that a new model based on the Pi 5 would be released. It took a little longer than expected, but December saw the release of the Raspberry Pi 500 based on the Raspberry Pi 5 hardware. It is available on its own or as a complete desktop kit that includes a mouse, power supply, preloaded SD card, and cables.

A product that was not anticipated, also released in December, was The official Raspberry Pi Monitor. It is a 15.6-inch full HD LCD with built-in speakers and options for mounting using a wall mount or an integral stand, retailing for US$100.

All told, this is quite a list of product releases and these are only the official Raspberry products available from the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Many other third-party products continue to be introduced.

Another big announcement was the Raspberry Pi IPO (initial public offering). In June, Raspberry Pi became a publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange, as Raspberry Pi Holdings plc. Currently, the company's valuation is almost US$700M.

It should be noted that the Raspberry Pi Foundation still exists and will continue as a non-profit supporting computer science education. Some time ago separate websites were created for Raspberry Pi Holdings and The Raspberry Pi Foundation.

Finally, with all the focus on hardware releases, significant effort has gone into software improvements as well. In addition to support for new hardware like AI and storage products, the Raspberry Pi OS has continued to move forward. I think two particular items deserve mention:

The new Raspberry Pi Connect application provides secure remote access to a Raspberry Pi desktop or command line. Currently in Beta release, I found it very easy to use and handy when you have a Pi that is located remotely or doesn't have a monitor attached to it.

Another significant development was the move to using Wayland by default. While not noticeable to most users, the underlying X Window system used on Raspberry Pi OS and many Linux desktops is a technology originally developed in the 1980s and which has been slowly migrating to a new technology called Wayland. In late October Wayland was considered stable enough to be made the default, although users can switch back to X if desired.

In summary, 2024 was a big year for product releases, including some that reflect recognition of the growing importance of AI.

If you found this blog post helpful, I invite you to read some of my other posts.