Raspberry Pi has raised prices for the 2GB versions of its Pi 4 and Pi 5 boards, citing rapidly rising memory costs. Both models now cost $12.50 more, taking the 2GB Pi 4 to $67.50 and the equivalent Pi 5 to $77.50.
The Pi 4 launched at $35. That price rose “temporarily” to $45 during the pandemic and has climbed since.
The board maker reported a 90 per cent increase in first-half revenue to $256.9 million, with gross profit up 79 per cent to $59.4 million. Gross profit per board rose 53 per cent to $12.20, helped by the price increases and by stocks of memory bought at lower prices in 2025. The company says that inventory advantage has largely been exhausted.
Its advice to customers facing higher prices is to consider older models, such as the Pi 3B, 3A+ or 3B+, and to check how much memory their projects actually need.
Price rises have become routine for Pi customers. Much of the Pi 4 and Pi 5 range saw substantial increases in April 2026. A 16GB Pi 5 currently costs $305 at the retailer PiShop, against a $120 launch price in January 2025.
The 2GB Pi 4 and Pi 5 escaped April's round. That reprieve has now ended. Prices are unchanged for the 1GB Pi 4 and Pi 5 and for the 2GB Compute Module 4 and 5.
Buyers cannot route around the problem by fitting their own memory. Raspberry Pi engineer Phil Elwell told the company's support forums earlier this year that newer firmware locks the devices to their original memory capacity.
Chief executive Eben Upton said: “The price of memory will eventually subside, and we look forward to reversing our own price increases when it does.”
That may take a while. Micron chief executive Sanjay Mehrotra warned this week that memory shortages would persist into 2028 and possibly beyond, adding: “We do not have line of sight to when supply and demand will return to balance.”
It is worth being clear about what has actually changed here, because the Pi was never sold on its specification. It was sold on its price, and the price was the product's name.
The specification has held up well. The name has held up perfectly. The price has not. A $35 computer now costs $67.50, which is 1.93 $35 computers, leaving the buyer who wants exactly one of them short by 0.93 of a unit.
The company's suggested remedy is to buy an older board instead. The Pi 3B is cheaper. It is also not a $35 computer; it is a different number that is likewise not 35.
The increase is instructive on its own. Gross profit per board across the first half was $12.20. The rise applied to these two models is $12.50. On the two boards in question, the adjustment is larger than the average profit the company made on a board all half.
The Department of Unnecessary Research has examined the bill of materials and reports that every component of the $35 computer is now subject to the memory market except one. The name has not moved since 2019 and is not expected to.
Upton says the company looks forward to reversing the increases when memory prices subside. Until that happens, the $35 computer will continue to be sold under its own name, which is the last part of it still available at the original price.