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Raspberry Pi Foundation reneges on promised "permanent" price cut and blames higher prices on Chip Shortage

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Summary

 

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has reneged on their promised "permanent" price cuts to their Pi 4B 2GB and the discontinuation of the Pi 4B 1GB. The foundation has blamed the global chip shortage for their reversal on the decision they previously made in early 2020. The foundation also cited the Pi 4B 2GB and Pi Zero W being frequently out of stock in it's justification although the Pi Zero W's price is not being adjusted at this time.

 

The Pi 4B 2GB's pricing was previously $45 USD and was discounted to $35 in 2020. It is now once again $45.

The Pi 4B 1GB's pricing was $35 previously but was discontinued in 2020 due to the Pi 4B 2GB occupying the same price point. Alas, it is now being re-introduced for the old price of $35.

 

The Pi Foundation have said that they intend this to be a temporary measure until the chip shortages go away.

 

The foundation has also said that the Pi 3B+ is being de-prioritisedin favor of other Pi 3 models and suggests migrating away from the 3B+.

 

Quotes

Quote

The price increase for the 2GB Pi 4 and reintroduction of the 1GB model essentially reverts the Pi 4 lineup to where it was back in February of 2020, when the Pi Foundation cut the price of the 2GB Pi 4 from $45 to $35, a price cut that it said was "permanent" at the time. The March 2020 issue of the official Raspberry Pi Magazine (PDF) said that the 1GB model had been "retired."

 

Quote

Upton expressed hope that the price increase would be "temporary" and said that "we see early signs that the supply chain situation is starting to ease."

"These changes in pricing are not here to stay," Upton wrote. "As global supply chain issues moderate, we’ll keep revisiting this issue, and we want to get pricing back to where it was as fast as we can."

Shortages of 40 nm chips also mean that the older Raspberry Pi 3B+ is being "deprioritized" in favor of other Raspberry Pi 3 variants; the company keeps manufacturing older products primarily for "industrial and embedded" customers who need to use specific Pi boards for extended periods of time. Upton recommends that in the long term, customers who rely on the Pi 3B+ plan to migrate to the 1GB version of the Pi 4.

 

My thoughts

One has to wonder how temporary these changes are given how they reneged on their last price promise.

 

it does make sense that this price increase is coming considering that it's been hard to find Pi 4B 2GB in stock at Raspberry Pi resellers/distributors and considering that the pricing of used Pi 4B 2GB seemed to be almost identical to new if not actually higher than new pricing due to new Pi 4B 2GB units being out of stock.

 

I'm a bit surprised they didn't increase the price of the Pi Zero W altho that is a very cost sensitive product and that they didn't increase the Pi 4B prices even further. Then again imho the Pi 400 is somewhat overpriced as is compared to buying the Pi 4B 4GB standalone.

 

Sources

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/10/supply-chain-woes-lead-to-a-temporary-raspberry-pi-4-price-hike/

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And we shouldn't make promises....

 

Really not a news item though.  It's basically how the world is operating now.

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Thing is they probrably had no choice but to go back on the promise, they have to buy these chips too you know since they're not free in the first place.
Maybe they can go back to the lower price, maybe not - Depends on how the "Chip Shortage" plays out in the future.

The term "Reneg" may be a bit strong here, more like they raised the price back due to no fault of their own.
That's how I see it.

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Meh, I don't mind too much for 10$. Besides in my experience store price has been higher than MSRP anyway.

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They did nothing wrong, except perhaps make a promise they shouldn't have.

 

They could never have predicted the state of the industry and the chip shortage. They didn't "reneg" on anything - they were forced to cover increases in costs from their supplier.

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54 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

They did nothing wrong, except perhaps make a promise they shouldn't have.

 

They could never have predicted the state of the industry and the chip shortage. They didn't "reneg" on anything - they were forced to cover increases in costs from their supplier.

Yeah had they waited about a month or so later I would imagine they wouldn't have made the promise. 

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22 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

One has to wonder how temporary these changes are given how they reneged on their last price promise.

Oh you know, only 5 to 10 years. And then price would adjust to inflation and "current market", and so, never, unless there is actual competition in the chip manufacturing side of things. I don't see that happening as all are at capacity, and are less than a handful of them... so expect, once the shortage issue actually gets solved, price controls between companies to be set between them to maximize profits as much as possible. Then they'll get caught, go to court, 10 years later, fine 20$ each and move on with billions they made.

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On 10/22/2021 at 11:09 AM, valdyrgramr said:

Reminds me of loot crate as of late.  They keep promising dates then blaming the ports, makes more promises on dates, and keeps using the ports as an excuse.  Even if the ports were to blame, businesses can't make a promise like this and then make excuses as it is fraud.  More so if money is involved, but if not they're damaging their reputation.

Well I could imagine some might not have anticipated the massive issues at the ports when they gave those dates but now they problem shouldn't give a definite date. The other issue is some places have an estimated time of arrival which isn't really a promise but just an estimate on when they think something will arrive so you couldn't really say they are lying just that they such at predictions. 

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