Orange Pi 3 LTS is a cost-down, more compact version of Orange Pi 3 SBC launched in 2019 with Allwinner H6 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor, Gigabit Ethernet, four USB 3.0 ports, and mPCIe socket with a PCIe x1 Gen2 lane. AFAICR, the latter never really worked well due to a botched implementation in the SoC.
The new slimmed-down Orange Pi 3 LTS is sized like a business card, loses the mostly useless mPCIe socket from the original board, comes with 2GB LPDDR3 RAM (no more 1GB RAM option), a lower number of USB ports, USB Type-C power input, and an Allwinner AW859A WiFi and Bluetooth module replaces the Ampak AP6256 module from the original board.
Orange Pi 3 LTS specifications:
- SoC – Allwinner H6 quad-core Cortex A53 processor clocked at up to 1.8 GHz with Arm Mali-T720MP2 GPU supporting OpenGL ES 3.1/3.0/2.0/1.1, DirectX 11
- System Memory – 2GB LPDDR3 (before 1GB or 2GB)
- Storage – 8GB eMMC flash and microSD card slot (note: no more option without eMMC flash)
- Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4Kp60, 3.5mm AV jack with composite video and stereo audio
- Audio Input – Built-in microphone
- Video Decoding – 10-bit H.265 up to 4Kp60, 6Kp30, VP9 and H.264 up to 4Kp30, AVS+/AVS up to 1080p60
- Networking & Wireless Connectivity
- USB – 1x USB 3.0 port (no more USB 3.0 hub chip), 2x USB 2.0 host ports
- Expansion – 26-pin header with GPIOs, I2C, UART, SPI, 5V, 3.3V, and GND
- Debugging – 3-pin serial console / UART header
- Misc – Power button; IR receiver; power and status LEDs
- Power Supply – 5V/3A via USB-C port (instead of 5V/2A via power barrel jack or micro USB port); AXP805 PMIC
- Dimensions – 85 x 56 mm (was 90 x 64 mm)
The single board computer is said to support Android 9.0, Ubuntu, and Debian with Orange Pi’s maintained OS images and PDF documentation soon to be offered on their website. For some reason, Shenzhen Xunlong Software will also start selling the board before their image and documentation is made public, which should be in a few weeks [Update: I’ve been told everything will be uploaded on Monday]. You can always check Orange Pi 3 docs for reference. Orange Pi 3 is also supported by Armbian with Ubuntu 20.04 Focal and Debian 11 BullsEye image available, and I suspect those images should work on Orange Pi 3 LTS, possibly minus the WiFi and Bluetooth.
Orange Pi 3 LTS single board computer can be purchased now for $35 on either Aliexpress or Amazon US. For reference, that’s about the same price as the original Orange Pi 3 board with 2GB LPDDR3, but no eMMC flash, when it was launched in 2019.
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.
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