The creator of Raspberry Pi has acknowledged that for the foreseeable future, average users would struggle to obtain the newest models.
When Jeff Geerling, a well-known YouTuber whose videos frequently show Pi boards of one kind or another, contacted him, Eben Upton acknowledged that the issues he had previously detailed in April(opens in new tab) have not yet been fixed.
In particular, the inability of Raspberry Pi to create boards in large quantities has been caused by a number of supply chain challenges, which has been made worse by the distribution of restricted production capacity to larger companies.
Raspberry Pi deficiency
We wrote about the start of the Raspberry Pi model shortage in December 2021. Official resellers predicted they wouldn’t be able to supply some of the most desired SKUs for several months at the time.
In a blog post, Upton predicted that supply chain issues would last “throughout much of 2022,” getting less serious as more manufacturing capacity went online and logistical bottlenecks were cleared.
Other outside forces, though, have also hampered the recovery. In particular, a glut of scalpers who use automated algorithms to seize any stock that does reach the shelves with the intention of reselling it for a profit on secondary markets has made the shortage worse.
A similar issue has made it incredibly difficult to obtain the newest video game consoles and graphics cards, some of which have been sold on at astronomical prices.
Even worse, Upton informed Geerling that although Raspberry Pi reserves a portion of its inventory for regular customers, it is currently more important to fulfil sizable orders from OEMs and other large-scale clients. The justification is that enterprises dependent on Pi boards could “wither and die” otherwise.
The best option right now for hobbyists hoping to get their hands on a Raspberry Pi, according to our sister site Tom’s Hardware(opens in new tab), is to keep an eye on stock tracking websites (like rpilocator), shell out more money on the secondary market, or choose a more expensive Raspberry Pi substitute If there was ever a selection of options that was unpleasant, this is it.
