Raspberry Pi Foundation launches $4 Pico, a tiny microcontroller for hardware projects that uses Raspberry Pi's own RP2040 chip
16MB of flash is great for storing models and buffering data, and WiFi/BT is super helpful for collecting data during development. Thoughtful product design 💙 https://twitter.com/... @mayermakes : looking at @Raspberry_Pi #pico and @arduino #rp2040 I will prefer the Arduino variant, as it fits my workflow and uses better, but its great to see that a custom silicon gets rolled out by different manufacturers in different styles! https://twitter.com/... Dominic Pajak / @dominicpajak : My new favorite tiny ML platform 🥰 https://twitter.com/... Eben Upton / @ebenupton : So excited to be working with @arduino on this. Going to be a beautiful product for building IoT applications with edge ML. https://twitter.com/... @arduino : Not only will the Nano RP2040 Connect pack a WiFi/Bluetooth module, 9-axis IMU, microphone, and other features... we'll also be porting the Arduino core to @Raspberry_Pi's new RP2040 architecture so everyone can use the chip with our ecosystem! https://blog.arduino.cc/... https://twitter.com/... Ubi De Feo / @ubidefeo : I'm beyond excited to share this bit of news: There will be an Arduino Nano based on Raspberry Pi's just announced RP2040. I knew NOTHING about this until 10 minutes ago, and am very proud of how well our teams have kept this a secret. Can't wait to have one... or five 😍 https://twitter.com/... Philip Colligan / @philipcolligan : New product alert. New product alert. Welcome to the world @Raspberry_Pi Pico. https://twitter.com/... Raspberry Pi / @raspberry_pi : ICYMI: Meet our first microcontroller-class product: Raspberry Pi Pico. Priced at just $4 and built on RP2040, a new chip developed here at Raspberry Pi, Pico is for experienced users and beginners alike, and it's on the cover of @HackSpaceMag today https://raspberrypi.org/... https://twitter.com/... Alasdair Allan / @aallan : There is a new thing in the world! Today @Raspberry_Pi is introducing our first microcontroller, welcome to Raspberry Pi Pico! Built around our own silicon, designed by us here in the UK. Pico can be found today on the cover of @HackSpaceMag. https://www.raspberrypi.org/ ... https://twitter.com/... @blenster : Interesting article on @hackaday on the new @Raspberry_Pi microcontroller, the $4 Pico: https://hackaday.com/... I can see the software defined I/O being super helpful to #BadgeLife especially the ability to drive WS2812s as easily as driving the APA102s (no bit-banging).
Context & Ripple Effects
The Foundation that built Raspberry Pi on commodity Broadcom parts is now shipping its own silicon: the $4 Pico is the first product built on the in-house RP2040 microcontroller, extending a run that saw single-board sales hit 640K in a single month as the Pi matured from hobbyist toy to general-purpose computer.
The launch doubles as a merchant-chip play: Arduino is porting its core to RP2040 and building the Nano RP2040 Connect around it, so a direct competitor's ecosystem is validating the chip on day one — the same pattern of cheap boards displacing rivals that Next Thing Co.'s $9 CHIP once aimed at the Pi itself.
First-order effects
- Educators and hardware hackers get a $4 entry point backed by Raspberry Pi's software stack, while Arduino gains a new silicon supplier and ships the Nano RP2040 Connect with WiFi/BT and sensors as its preferred variant for existing workflows.
Second-order effects
- RP2040 becomes a merchant part that multiple manufacturers can build boards around, shifting competition in the low-cost microcontroller market from whose board is cheapest to whose ecosystem and tooling developers prefer — exactly the split the early adopter reaction highlights between the Pico and the Arduino variant.
Third-order effects
- If the line holds — the Pico later gained Wi-Fi in the $6 Pico W and a faster successor in the $7 Pico 2 W — Raspberry Pi's structure changes from board vendor to silicon designer licensing chips to third parties, with tiny-ML workloads like Dominic Pajak's favorite-platform pick as the demand driver.
The trend: Single-board computing brands are moving down the stack into workload-defined silicon of their own, turning community ecosystems into merchant-chip businesses.