The Raspberry Pi founder confirmed that getting the latest models will continue to be a struggle for regular consumers for the foreseeable future.
Eben Upton, contacted by Jeff Geerling, a prominent YouTuber whose videos regularly feature Pi boards of one variety or another, admitted that the issues outlined in April (opens in a new tab) have yet to be resolved.
Specifically, the Raspberry Pi suffered from various supply chain issues that made it impossible to produce boards in large volumes, a situation made worse by the allocation of limited manufacturing capacity to larger players.
Raspberry Pi shortage
In December 2021, we reported the beginning of the shortage of Raspberry Pi models. At that time, official resellers estimated that they would not be able to ship some of the more popular SKUs for many months.
In a blog post, Upton said he expects supply chain challenges to continue "through much of 2022," with the problem expected to become less acute as more supply chain capacity becomes available. Manufacturing will be brought online and logistics bottlenecks will be resolved.
However, the recovery was also hampered by other external factors. That is, the shortage has been exacerbated by a scourge of scalpers, who use automated robots to pick up any supplies that hit the shelves, with an eye to selling them for a profit on secondary markets.
A similar problem has made it extremely difficult to obtain the latest graphics cards and video game consoles, some of which have been sold at exorbitant prices.
Worse yet, Upton told Geerling that while the Raspberry Pi is demarcating a percentage of stock for regular consumers, the priority right now is delivering large-scale orders from OEMs and industrial customers. The reason for this is that companies that rely on Pi boards could otherwise "wither and die".
As our sister site Tom's Hardware (opens in a new tab) pointed out, the best bet for hobbyists hoping to get their hands on a Raspberry Pi right now is to check out stock tracking sites (like rpilocator), pay a premium for the aftermarket or go for a more expensive Raspberry Pi alternative. An unpleasant selection of options, if any.