Raspberry Pi Launches the Radio-Equipped Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W for Just $7
Priced just $2 higher than the Raspberry Pi Pico 2, the new Pico 2 W packs all the same features — plus an Infineon radio.
Raspberry Pi has officially launched the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W, a fully-anticipated variant of its popular quad-core dual-architecture microcontroller development board that adds Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radio connectivity — for just $7.
The Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W is, perhaps surprisingly, not the first radio-equipped Pico-style board to be built using the RP2350 microcontroller: back in September Pimoroni pipped the company to the post with the launch of the Pico Plus 2 W, which paired the microcontroller with Raspberry Pi's own RM2 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radio module — even before said module had been officially announced.
The Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W, however, does not make use of the RM2 — but it does use the same Infineon CYW43439 single-band 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.2 plus Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio chip, installed directly onto the compact PCB under a metal shield above a Abracon ProAnt PCB antenna. Beyond this, the board footprint, feature list, and specifications remain unchanged from the non-wireless Pico 2: dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 and RISC-V Hazard processors at a stock 150MHz, TrustZone security system, 520kB static RAM (SRAM), 4MB quad-SPI flash, and 26 exposed general-purpose input/output (GPIO) pins.
As with its predecessors, the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W is supported in Raspberry Pi's official C/C++ software development kit and in MicroPython — though, at the time of writing, the MicroPython port was still a work-in-progress. The company promises the part will remain in production until January 2040 at the earliest, and claims a broad operating temperature range of -20°C to +85°C (-4°F to 185°F) and a mean time between failures (MTBF) of 182,000 hours — dropping to 11,000 hours if used in mobile projects.
For those currently using a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W, moving across — once the MicroPython port is finalized — should be a simple process, though it will require projects to be recompiled. Those making the move likely won't see improved wireless performance but will enjoy a considerably more powerful processor, near double the memory, and up to 12 programmable input/output (PIO) state machines on the expanded PIO controller.
The Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W is now available to order from Raspberry Pi resellers worldwide, priced at $7 — a mere $2 more than the Pico 2.
Freelance journalist, technical author, hacker, tinkerer, erstwhile sysadmin. For hire: freelance@halfacree.co.uk.