The Orange Pi Zero 3 is a compact Allwinner H618 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 SBC with 1GB to 4GB RAM, 16MB SPI flash, micro HDMI output, Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0, a USB 2.0 port, and two headers for expansion.
It provides an update to the Allwinner H616-powered Orange Pi Zero 2 SBC quadrupling the maximum memory to 4GB and embedding a larger SPI flash. The new board basically offers the same ports but in a different layout and a slightly smaller form factor.
Orange Pi Zero 3 specifications:
- SoC – Allwinner H618 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.5GHz with 1MB L2 cache and Arm Mali-G31 MP2 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.0/2.0/3.2, OpenCL 2.0, Vulkan 1.1
- System Memory – 1GB, 1.5GB, 2GB, or 4GB LPDDR4
- Storage – 16MB SPI flash, microSD card socket
- Video Output
- Micro HDMI 2.0 up to 4Kp60
- Video composite (CVBS) via 13-pin header
- VPU
- VP9-10 Profile-2 up to 6Kp30
- H.265 HEVC MP-10 @ L5.1 up to 6Kp30
- H.264 AVC HP @ L5.1 up to 4Kp30
- H.264 MVC up to 1080p60
- Audio
- Digital audio output via HDMI
- 2-ch output, 1-ch input via 13-pin header
- Connectivity
- Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port via YT8531C PHY
- Dual-band WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 (CdTech 20U5622 module) with external antenna
- USB – 1x USB 2.0 Type-A port, 2x USB 2.0 interfaces on 13-pin header
- Expansions
- 26-pin GPIO header with I2C, SPI, UART, GPIOs
- 13-pin GPIO header with audio, 2x USB 2.0, TV out, and IR receiver
- Debugging – 3-pin debug UART
- Power Supply – 5V/3A via USB Type-C port
- Dimensions – 55 x 50 mm
The main difference between Allwinner H616 and Allwinner H618 is that the latter comes with 1MB L2 cache for better performance. Another significant difference relates to software support with the new Orange Pi Zero 3 board supporting more recent operating systems such as Android 12 for TV, Ubuntu 22.04, and Debian 12, as can be seen from the simplified Orange Pi Zero 2 / Orange Pi Zero 3 comparison table below.
| Model | Orange Pi Zero 2 | Orange Pi Zero 3 |
|---|---|---|
| SoC | Allwinner H616 quad-core Cortex-A53 @ 1.5 GHz | Allwinner H618 quad-core Cortex-A53 @ 1.5 GHz |
| Memory | 512MB/1GB DDR3 | 1GB/1.5GB/2GB/4GB LPDDR4 |
| Storage | MicroSD card slot 2MB SPI Flash | MicroSD card slot 16MB SPI Flash |
| Video Output | Micro HDMI |
|
| Ethernet | Gigabit Ethernet |
|
| Wireless | WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 |
|
| USB | 1x USB 2.0 port |
|
| Power Supply | 5V via USB-C port |
|
| Dimensions | 60 x 53 mm | 55 x 50 mm |
| OS | Android 10, Ubuntu, Debian | Android 12 TV, Debian 11/12, Ubuntu 22.04/20.04 |
The OS images should soon become available on the Download section of the Orange Pi website. I can also see the company has setup a wiki instead of sharing everything in PDF files, but the new Allwinner H618 SBC is not there just yet.
Pricing is really good, especially for the Orange Pi Zero 3 4GB that goes for just $25, and should be one of the cheapest boards with 4GB RAM on the market:
- 1GB RAM – $14.90
- 1.5GB RAM – $16.90
- 2GB RAM – $19.90
- 4GB RAM – $25.00
You’ll find all four variants on Aliexpress and on Amazon (with a small markup)
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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