Summary

  • Raspberry Pi Pico 2 offers more power & features at just $5, maintaining affordability for SBC users.
  • New model boasts upgraded Arm cores, security features & enhanced interfacing capabilities.
  • Second iteration solves user feedback, enhancing performance and complexity while remaining budget-friendly.

We've seen a lot of Raspberry Pi competitors release in an attempt to dethrone it, such as the mighty Particle Tachyon 5G. However, every time I'm wowed by what the Pi's rivals (Pi-vals?) are up to, I always lose track of where the Raspberry Pi shines best - its sheer affordability. And it's only when the company releases a brand new Raspberry Pi Pico that rivals the cost of a latte that I am reminded of just how much an incredibly low price point can matter in the world of SBCs.

The Raspberry Pi Pico 2 is now here

Image Credit: Raspberry Pi

As announced on the Raspberry Pi News website, the company is now taking orders for the Raspberry Pi Pico 2. In the news post, the company states that it was very pleased with what it achieved with the first Raspberry Pi Pico alongside the RP2040. However, there were things that didn't make the cut in the final product, and the Pi's users had some issues that they delivered in their feedback.

Now, the company is back with the second iteration, powered by the RP2350. The company lists how much more complex this model is than the RP2040:

  • Two 150MHz Arm Cortex-M33 cores, with floating point and DSP support
  • 520KB of on-chip SRAM in ten concurrently accessible banks
  • A comprehensive security architecture, built around Arm TrustZone for Cortex-M, and including:
    • Signed boot support
    • 8KB of on-chip antifuse one-time-programmable (OTP) memory
    • SHA-256 acceleration
    • A hardware true random number generator (TRNG)
  • An on-chip switch-mode power supply and low-quiescent-current LDO
  • Twelve upgraded PIO state machines
  • A new HSTX peripheral for high-speed data transmission
  • Support for external QSPI PSRAM

And the best bit? Grabbing your own Raspberry Pi Pico 2 will only set you back $5. As such, this is a perfect way to get started with making your own devices without spending too much money. And if you want some inspiration, you can check out this cool Halloween portrait powered by a Pico.

Raspberry Pi Pico 2


With a higher core clock speed, double the memory, more powerful Arm cores, optional RISC‑V cores, new security features, and upgraded interfacing capabilities, Raspberry Pi Pico 2 delivers a significant performance boost, while retaining compatibility with earlier members of the Raspberry Pi Pico series.