We’ve come along way since the inception of Raspberry Pi. Launched in 2006, the main goal was to inspire young people to discover just how computers worked, with the aim of encouraging younger students to take an interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematic) subjects. Since then, technology has revolutionised the way we work, live, socialise and even how we find potential love.
Now, Eben Upton, CEO and Pi Foundation founder has revealed the company’s intentions for future single-board computers. The Pi Foundation has confirmed that there’s a Raspberry Pi 4A and Raspberry Pi 5 in the pipeline, along with a new Raspberry Pi touchscreen display.
Whilst only rumoured, here are some of the things we can expect from the latest addition to the Pi family.
Performance
Partnering with Broadcom for all their previous models, it’s unlikely the Raspberry Pi 5 won’t be part of the Broadcom family. The Pi 4B is powered by the Broadcom BCM2711, Quad core Cortex-A72 (ARM v8) 64-bit SoC, so it’s likely the Pi 5 will be powered by a more beefed-up version. However, there is a chance – albeit small – that Raspberry Pi could develop its own SoC.
In terms of RAM, it’s thought that the Pi 5 will be similar to the Raspberry Pi 4 and have a choice of RAM size to suit the needs of the user. With many hoping for 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM. Providing users with faster performance and energy efficiency.
Display
Whilst the latest Pi was praised for its dual-display output, there is still room for improvement. It’s hoped the Pi 5 display connection won’t go through micro-HDMI ports, and will instead go through traditional HDMI ports instead – making it more convenient for many users.
In addition to HDMI ports, there are rumours that the Pi 5’s display will be optimised by 4K video playback.
Connectivity
The current Raspberry Pi models are equipped with Gigabit Ethernet, USB2,0 and USB3.0 ports for connectivity and the Raspberry Pi 5 is likely to follow suit as well as a receiving an upgrade for Bluetooth to v5.2 to help provide faster speeds and increase the communication range.
It’s thought that there will be additional SMA connector options for attaching external antennas to help boost range.
OS
The latest operating system from Raspberry Pi – Pi OS is the new and official operating system and has completely replaced the outdated Rasbian OS. The new OS can run on both 32 and 64-bit systems providing a significant improvement for users. Whilst unconfirmed, it’s thought the Raspberry Pi 5 will benefit the Raspberry Pi OS too.