Raspberry Pi Announces New RP2040 Pico Variants

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2022-06-30 | By Nate_Larson

In January of 2021, as the chip shortage was just beginning to take hold, Raspberry Pi surprised the electronics community by deviating from its history of low-cost Broadcom-based single-board computers to launch the RP2040 microcontroller. The timing of the launch was impeccable as inventory levels of advanced silicon across manufacturers diminished and lead times grew, making such a powerful new option a welcome addition to the market.

Showcasing this new dual-core ARM Cortex-M0+ microcontroller was the Raspberry Pi Pico development board, providing a USB interface and breadboard-compatible breakout of the GPIO. The single-sided board features castellated pads, increasing versatility for surface-mount integration. In line with Raspberry Pi’s initiative to create accessible electronics hardware, the RP2040 and Pico board’s affordable price and extensive support have led to an outbreak of RP2040 development boards throughout the maker community since its debut.

Raspberry Pi themselves have now launched additional Pico boards to allow greater accessibility and functionality.

Pico W

Building on the enormous popularity of Pico, Raspberry Pi has announced the extension of the Pico range to include the wireless-enabled Pico W model.

Raspberry Pi Announces New RP2040 Pico Variants

At the heart of the Pico W is the RP2040, which features two ARM Cortex-M0+ cores clocked at 133MHz; 256KB RAM; 30 GPIO pins; and a broad range of interfacing options. This is paired with 2MB of onboard QSPI Flash memory for code and data storage.

Raspberry Pi Pico W incorporates an Infineon CYW43439 wireless chip. CYW43439 supports IEEE 802.11 b/g/n wireless LAN and Bluetooth 5.2. Currently, Raspberry Pi documentation only supports the use of wireless LAN functionality at launch, with the expectation that Bluetooth support will later be released.

Pico H

Launching today alongside the new wireless Pico is the Raspberry Pi Pico H. This is the same RP2040 based Pico board you’ve come to know and love, now fitted with a pre-soldered 40-pin header and 3-pin JTAG connector; for greater ease of use and to eliminate the need for soldering. Perfect for educational and rapid prototyping environments, Pico H allows users to get started with project development immediately.

Raspberry Pi Announces New RP2040 Pico Variants

Pico WH

Also announced today and releasing later this year is the Raspberry Pi Pico WH. Combining the wireless functionality of the Pico W with the pre-soldered headers and JTAG connector of the Pico H, the WH variant will allow for rapid development of wireless and IoT applications while maintaining a competitive price point.

Raspberry Pi Announces New RP2040 Pico Variants

As an authorized distributor for all Raspberry Pi products, you can find the new Raspberry Pi Pico boards and other RP2040 development boards at Digikey.com or use the links below.

Want to learn more about the Raspberry Pi RP2040 and Pico boards? You can find RP2040 based projects and blogs on Maker.io, including: