The Raspberry Pi Foundation has come up with a new model of the Pi 4 to help get the message across.
For several months now, the success of artificial intelligence has been fuelling ever larger, ever more demanding contracts. The main players in this still nascent market are stealing all the orders, especially when it comes to DRAM and NAND memory. So much so, in fact, that other IT sectors are left with crumbs - crumbs that are being snapped up at a premium. Just take a look at the prices of DDR5 memory sticks and SSDs, and you'll see the madness that has gripped these sectors: +200%, +300% in just a few weeks!
Model 4 with 3 GB LPDDR4 © Raspberry Pi
The problem is that this inflation has spread to less modern sectors. So, while many buyers wanted to fall back on more basic configurations based on DDR4, for example, the latter in turn became rarer and prices began to rise. Inflation was slower and a little gentler, but it was enough to put the Raspberry Pi foundation, which has made a specialty of low-cost, single-card nano-computers, in a difficult position. The foundation has been forced to raise all its prices, and the least we can say is that it hurts: $25 more for the Raspberry Pi 4 and 5 with 4 GB LPDDR4, $50 for the 8 GB models and even $100 for the Pi 5 with 16 GB.
So that users can spend just what they need, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has launched a new model, with a memory capacity unusual for this kind of machine. A Raspberry Pi 4 with 3 GB LPDDR4 should be available very soon, priced at $83.75. That's a far cry from the prices charged just a few months ago, but when 4 GB is a bit too much, it's a good way to save money... while waiting for better days. The Foundation believes that DRAM prices will soon come down: " We've said it before: memory prices won't stay at their current high levels indefinitely. We're in a difficult economic climate, but these prices will eventually come down, and we'll reverse our price increases. In the meantime, we will continue to do everything in our power to limit the impact."
