The Raspberry Pi Foundation has unveiled the Raspberry Pi Pico 2, the latest iteration of its widely used microcontroller board, built on the new RP2350 chip. This compact yet powerful board measures 21mm x 51mm and represents a significant advancement over the original Raspberry Pi Pico, which was based on the RP2040 chip. The Pico 2 boasts an improved clock speed of 150MHz, up from 133MHz, and features more capable Arm Cortex-M33 cores, enhancing its performance and efficiency for various tasks.
One of the most notable upgrades in the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 is its increased flash memory. The new board comes with 4MB of flash storage, which is double the capacity of the original Pico’s 2MB. This expanded memory allows for more complex programs and applications, making it an excellent choice for advanced projects. Additionally, the Pico 2 includes new security features, such as optional boot signing and protected OTP storage for boot decryption keys, providing enhanced protection for your work.
The Raspberry Pi Pico 2 maintains compatibility with the previous Pico components, ensuring that existing users can seamlessly transition to the new model. It supports programming in C, C++, and Python, catering to a broad range of users from beginners to experts. The board offers a wide array of connectivity options, including dual UART, dual SPI controllers, dual I2C controllers, and a USB 1.1 controller. It also features 24 PWM channels, 4 ADC channels, and 12 PIO state machines, giving users the flexibility to handle various tasks and projects.
In terms of security, the Pico 2 is equipped with hardware-level protections against fault injection attacks and includes a hardware SHA-256 accelerator. These features ensure that the board is capable of handling sensitive operations with increased security. The Pico 2 also supports drag-and-drop programming via mass storage over USB, simplifying the programming process.
Despite these advancements, the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 remains exceptionally affordable at just $5. This low price point makes it an attractive option for a wide range of users, from hobbyists to educators. The board is available for pre-order through authorized US retailers, including SparkFun, Adafruit, CanaKit, and PiShop. It is currently not listed on Amazon.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation has already sold nearly four million Pico units, including the wireless Pico W version, highlighting the popularity and success of the Pico series. With its combination of enhanced performance, backward compatibility, and affordability, the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 is set to continue this trend and provide valuable tools for a variety of projects and applications.