Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is the first quad-core SBC from the Raspberry Pi Foundation with the Raspberry Pi Zero form factor. Based on the RP3A0 system-in-package (SiP) comprised of a Broadcom BCM2710A1 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor and 512MB LPDDR2, the new Pi Zero W 2 board offers the exact same interfaces as its predecessor.
This includes a MicroSD card socket, a mini HDMI port, two micro USB ports, a MIPI CSI-2 camera connector, as well as an unpopulated 40-pin GPIO header. The wireless module appears to have changed but still offers WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4.x BLE, and it’s using the same VideoCore IV GPU to handle 3D graphics and video encoding and decoding up to 1080p30.
Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W specifications:
- SiP – Raspberry Pi RP3A0 system-in-package with:
- SoC – Broadcom BCM2710A1 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1GHz (overclockable to 1.2 GHz) with VideoCore IV CPU supporting OpenGL ES 1.1, 2.0 graphics
- Memory – 512MB LPDDR2
- Storage – MicroSD card socket
- Video output – Mini HDMI port, composite video via header
- Camera – MIPI CSI-2 camera connector
- Video
- Decoding – H.264 and MPEG-4 up to 1080p30
- Encoding – H.264 up to 1080p30
- Connectivity – 2.4GHz IEEE 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi 4 and Bluetooth 4.2 BLE with onboard antenna
- USB – 1x Micro USB 2.0 OTG port
- Expansion – Unpopulated 40-pin HAT-compatible I/O header
- Power Supply – 5V/2.5A via Micro USB port
- Dimensions – 65 x 30 mm (same form factor as previous Raspberry Pi Zero boards)
- Temperature Range – -20°C to +70°C
- Production lifetime – At least until January 2028
The CPU performance will be much higher than for the Raspberry Pi Zero even with the same 1 GHz CPU clock due to the jump from an ARM11 core to Cortex-A53 cores, and in theory, performance should be about 30% slower than a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ with a processor clocked at 1.4 GHz. The frequency is lower than Raspberry Pi Zero W probably because the board is smaller and cooling is more challenging. So it’s something to test, and I should receive a sample later today, but Cytron already tested the board and throttling does occur when the CPU temperature gets over 80°C even at the 1 GHz stock frequency.
The switch from Broadcom BCM2835 processor to Raspberry Pi BCM2710A1 may also help alleviate the shortage that led to the Raspberry Pi 4 2GB price increase, although both are likely manufactured with a 40nm process.
The power requirements have changed too, as since a 5V/1.5A power adapter was recommended for the Pi Zero W, the Raspberry Pi Foundation upped that to 5V/2.5A for the Pi Zero W 2 while keeping a micro USB port for power. So you’ll have to make sure to use an adequate power adapter and select a good quality Micro USB cable that is as short as convenient to make sure the board works under all conditions. Software support is the same with Raspberry Pi OS and third-party OS such as Ubuntu.
While the Raspberry Pi Zero W 2 is the first quad-core 65 x 30mm board from the Raspberry Pi Foundation, other quad-core boards with Pi Zero form factor had been released by other companies in the past with solutions such as Radxa Zero or Banana Pi BPI-M2 Zero. The launch of Raspberry Pi Zero W 2 basically kills the latter, but Radxa Zero still has some advantages including a faster processor, RAM capacity from 512MB to 4GB, and an optional 802.11ac WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 wireless module.
Raspberry Pi Zero W 2 is available now for $15 in the US, EU, Canada, and Hong Kong, but I’ve been told stock will come to other countries later due to pending certifications. More details may be found on the product page.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress
The reason they did not go with 1GB RAM is that it would have been tricky…
The performance increase is a really good news…. But…
The power consumption and the temperature is an awful news : in many case the form factor of the rpi zero is dedicated to portable device… which work on battery… Did they really follow the project of their users or they just study how to sell brodcom processors ? 😅
The Radxa Zero also has onboard flash. It costs more, so I guess you have to decide what you’re doing. I like the old RPI 0W because I could power it off of a computer’s USB port. I just don’t see what is compelling about the new revision.
The Radz Zero has a $15 version with a MicroSD card slot only. Whether it’s available for purchase/in-stock may be another story.
If people still freak out for a new 40nm sbc and prefer that instead of the radxa zero which is 12nm then we will never have enough demand to have them in stock and available widely.
You misunderstand the problem. Radxa isnt a serious company trying to establish long term products with long term support. It either doesnt have the money or doesnt want to invest in long term manufacturing and supply agreements. Neither will it invest in a proper world wide seller and distribution network
It operates in a more opportunistic way. Buying a batch of SoC’s at low prices when they are available for 2 or 3 small production runs then 6-18 months later they move on to something else
The demand exists, thats why Raspberry Pi’s keep selling, despite their drawbacks
Despite selling ancient hw! 40nm…2021!! Radxa is selling rockpi4 series with very similar hw since several years now, they only improved each new model but they run the same software with a different dtb.
Yet again you are completely missing the point. They actually sell hardware! Radxa doesnt most of the time. Go and look at its official dealers, almost all of them have no stock of anything and its always like that. You cant buy any usable quantity of Radxa board even if you wanted them. Its always been this way. If you didnt buy ALL the stock you need in the first 2 production runs then you cant get product
When you say opportunistic you didnt mention that rpi can establish long term support products bc they are tight to broadcom, they can’t choose the hw vendor. Any other sbc maker can choose the soc, rpi doesnt. Any other sbc maker can make produce an rk3399 for years to come, and still be able to make an amlogic sbc. Rpi don’t have that option… and that how we end on you trying to justify this piece of crappware.
2021… 40nm.
So Radxa should do the same if they want to offer long term products and for real customers to take them seriously. Ive got a box full of Radxa boards, they are cute toys. The only people that buy Radxa boards are people that want a single unit, and then complain about shipping prices lol. No business is ever going to build a product on a Radxa board that is only purchasable 6 week per year past best
Rpi keep selling bc of marketing and fan boys that justify a 40nm sbc on 2021.
Nonsense, they keep selling because they keep making them. Only Hardkernel comes close ro RPI’s availability but they are let down by their dealer network in the EU
When I work on a product for industrial use, it would be in production for a decade or sometimes more. Apart from relatively expensive System on Modules (SOM), currently only other viable option is Raspberry Pi. It doesn’t matter if it is ancient 40nm crap as you succinctly put it, as long as the performance is sufficient for the intended application.
Even highly performant and power efficient 5nm SoC is next to useless if the supplier does not commit to keep the SBC in production for longer time period.
Yes, if I am building a personal (i.e. not in serial production) projects then I would love newer power efficient SoCs but then again the software support situation for other boards leaves a lot to be desired.
> I just don’t see what is compelling about the new revision.
Easy: a significant increase in CPU performance (single-threaded twice as fast, multi-threaded even more). There exists more than one use case in this universe 😉
BTW: when locking down the CPU clock of the A53s to 600 MHz single-threaded performance might still be superior compared to the ARM11 Zero but multi-threaded performance will be way better of course. And this most probably without power/thermal problems (TBC – hoping for Jean-Luc and his review).
The radxa zero can also do that plus data with single cable.
Yeah but you cant buy one and when you can its in very limited quantities and never at a repeatable price. Support is poor, faulty units are not cost effective to return and have replaced. You cant trust or depend on them for any kind of long term deployment.
Raspberry Pi’s, for all their many faults, are nearly always available in large quantities and always at the retail price or lower. I can drive 20 minutes down the road and pick up a hundred if I need them for a project next week, or have them delivered next day. You cant do that with any Radxa kit
So you was regularly buying 100 RPI 0 W at a time?
Not sure it counts as regular but 3-4 times a year we need 50-200 ZW for a forestry project and we almost always have them next day. If we need some urgent samples of pretty much any RasPi product then I can send someone on a 20 min drive and pick up there and then but even without that we have next day delivery
We use RPI’s (ZW,4,CM3,CM4), NV Xavier & Jetson and used to use Odroid C & N devices. The RPI devices are the only ones consistently available in bulk and at a consistent price
You can order a hundred if you want just contacting them. They will not produce millions just in case people realize that rpi is a shitty vendor.
Im not arguing they are the best technical option but they are consistently available. Only Odroid boxes come close in terms of availability but then they dont have the long life cycles that RPI’s have. The Radxa Zero is clearly a far superior product from a spec perspective. The USB3 would be a huge plus for us but you cant actually buy it. Not even direct, we have tried several times but been given lead times of 2-3 months each time
Radxa sbcs a toy?? Hahaha dude, rpi4 lacks of AES, have that lovely threadx that make you nowhere near in control of the hardware (something that rk3399 provides, you can even run it blobless if you want), have several times less I/O than most radxa boards (they are mostly rk3399s).
Broadcom hw is a toy.
Also, 5v only? What an industrial grade!!
Sure.
If you want to pimp this power guzzler, there is a FLIRC Raspberry Pi Zero case.
Cool another Rpi board I’ll never buy as you sellers limit purchases to 1 and have absurd shipping costs.
They do that to stop competition in the low margin space. This is not the real retail price.
Eh why not? People buy new rpi boards even without having any real use. It’s a cool device to own.
That’s pretty much the only way people buy rpi boards.
Yes, another publicity stunt: as all the RPI zero series, this board will never be available to buy immediately at this price in quantities of 5 or 10. Always the forced kits, the quantity restrictions, the long backorders, and all the dishonest sales practices for a product that is just a marketing tool for the Raspberry Foundation.
I’m happy for anything that gets us closer to deprecating ARMv6, and being able to run standard armhf user space on all the common models. It will take ages before we can stop caring about the existing users, but the first step is to stop selling them.
I hope they use the same chip to also make drop-in replacements for the other three bcm2835 based models that are still in production (Zero v1.3, 1A+, 1B+). These officially have guaranteed production until early 2026, but they are already hard to find.
Why the excitement about a SoC clocked slower than a Allwinner 64 !
Another publicity stunt: as all the RPI zero series, this board will never be available to buy immediately at this price in quantities of 5 or 10. Always the forced kits, the quantity restrictions, the long backorders, and all the dishonest sales practices for a product that is just a marketing tool for the Raspberry Foundation.
I guess you missed the ‘W’ in the name? W and WH can be ordered in quantities and if in stock for somewhat realistic prices. I ordered such a thing today for 15.90€ VAT/shipping excluded which is slightly less than what the older Zero W would cost (at least here in DE at the moment).
BTW: I’m not talking about RPi Zero variants without W in their name. Those are exactly what you described.
And when the rpi fan boys refer to the big quantities availability they forget this is a community driven sbc market, not an indistrial sbc one. No industrial sbc use 5v type c (talking about potato 4). Industrial sbcs are way different than a raspberry pi.
This community driven sbcs are for end users, not primarily industrial usage.
Rpi made popular this concept of community driven sbc to differentiate them of industrial sbcs.
Radxa target isn’t industrial. They wouldn’t use type C PD if that would be the case. The would use barrel jack 12v or even more reliable ways to feed a board.
Pi “zero-two” in a red case… I can’t help but feel that’s an Evangelion reference by the RPi folks. (Unit 02 is all-red).