Raspberry Pi is raising prices again - the second increase in just two months - as memory component costs spiral out of control. CEO Eben Upton announced today that models with 2GB or more RAM will see hikes ranging from $10 to $60, with 16GB configurations taking the biggest hit. The move affects the company's flagship Pi 4 and Pi 5 boards, plus Compute Module variants, as memory suppliers more than double their prices amid what Upton calls "another challenging year" for the component market.
Raspberry Pi just delivered unwelcome news to its maker community. The UK-based computer company is raising prices across its product line for the second time since December, forced by memory costs that have more than doubled in a single quarter. It's a rare crack in the pricing discipline that's defined the brand since its 2012 launch.
"The cost of some parts has more than doubled over the last quarter," CEO Eben Upton wrote in today's announcement. "As a result, we now need to make further increases to our own pricing, affecting all Raspberry Pi 4 and 5, and Compute Module 4 and 5, products that have 2GB or more of memory."
The new pricing structure hits hardest on higher-memory configurations. Models with 2GB of RAM will increase by $10, while 4GB variants jump $15. The pain intensifies for power users - 8GB models rise by $30, and 16GB configurations face a $60 premium. That's on top of December's increases, which ranged from $5 to $25 depending on memory capacity.
For context, the original Raspberry Pi Model B launched at $35 in 2012. The Pi 5 with 8GB started at $80 before December's hike. With today's additional $30 increase, that same configuration now approaches $110 - more than triple the original Pi's price point. It's a fundamental shift for a platform built on affordability.
The memory crunch isn't hitting all products equally. Raspberry Pi's older devices - the Pi 3, Pi Zero, and budget-oriented 1GB variants - escape unscathed. Upton explained the company holds "several years' inventory" of the LPDDR2 memory used in legacy products. The newer Pi 4, Pi 5, and Compute Modules rely on modern LPDDR4 and LPDDR5 memory, where supply constraints are biting hardest.
