Out of stock!

[manusoftar]

This message is more for the creators of the Raspberry PI than to the general users, as only they could have an answer.

I was wondering what is going on that it is almost impossible to get a Raspberry PI (specially a RPI 4 8Gb) anywhere in the world...???
I was also wondering if there is any idea of when the RPI will be back in stock, and of course, if it will be back with a significative increase in price or if you are going to keep it on the price it had???


Thanks.

[m4r35n357]

I was wondering what is going on that it is almost impossible to get a Raspberry PI (specially a RPI 4 8Gb) anywhere in the world...???
I was also wondering if there is any idea of when the RPI will be back in stock, and of course, if it will be back with a significative increase in price or if you are going to keep it on the price it had???

Two suggestions:

• Read the news
  Read this forum

[jamesh]

This message is more for the creators of the Raspberry PI than to the general users, as only they could have an answer.

I was wondering what is going on that it is almost impossible to get a Raspberry PI (specially a RPI 4 8Gb) anywhere in the world...???
I was also wondering if there is any idea of when the RPI will be back in stock, and of course, if it will be back with a significative increase in price or if you are going to keep it on the price it had???


Thanks.

Have you not heard of the worldwide chip supply crisis currently affecting almost every manufacturer using silicon chips in the world?

We are making 500k or so devices a month, get on a local official resellers pre-order list to get normal prices, so when they get the kit you have one allocated.

[mahjongg]

[sarcasm] okay, you got us... We do it to annoy you! [/sarcasm]

Also, there is NO price increase! Unless of course when you insist in wanting to buy from scalpers, but then you have yourself to blame, because you signal them to double their efforts.

[andrum99]

...
get on a local official resellers pre-order list to get normal prices, so when they get the kit you have one allocated.
...

I would suggest this is the only advice you need here.

[ejolson]

[sarcasm] okay, you got us... We do it to annoy you! [/sarcasm]

The first post asked two questions and ended with thanks. Does sarcasm help?

It's claimed that production rates are similar to before but that demand has gone up. Since the retail channels around here have been out of stock for months, it would seem more production capacity is going directly to industrial customers than before. Hopefully to those who in Ukraine need them most.

As a temporary measure I'm considering the Odroid C4. Since South Korea is one of the non-fake Asian democracies that share values with the west, this seems like the best alternative to the Pi. The hardware is obviously a bit different.

[memjr]

[sarcasm] okay, you got us... We do it to annoy you! [/sarcasm]

The first post asked two questions and ended with thanks. Does sarcasm help?

Since you asked. I enjoy sarcasm, both to give and receive it. Sarcasm fits in any and all conversations. Especially when followed by laughter, or smiley faces when in written form like it was here.

One exception may be in cease fire discussions. Even then, it may be a good response instead of "we do not accept your terms of surrender."

[ejolson]

[sarcasm] okay, you got us... We do it to annoy you! [/sarcasm]

The first post asked two questions and ended with thanks. Does sarcasm help?

Since you asked. I enjoy sarcasm, both to give and receive it. Sarcasm fits in any and all conversations. Especially when followed by laughter, or smiley faces when in written form like it was here.

One exception may be in cease fire discussions. Even then, it may be a good response instead of "we do not accept your terms of surrender."

I didn't think the first post to this thread was sarcastic--it's possible others felt differently. I was petty impressed by the speech made at the UN which ended by pointing out that never a vote was made to admit the Russian Federation after the demise of the Soviet Union. In a way all politics are beyond my understanding.

Back to the sup-Pi chain problems, there is clearly a growing frustration about how difficult they are to procure. Given the general shortages, it's also not that useful when the raspberry pies run out to start eating cake instead. At the same time, anyone trying to make a business would be well advised to have more than one supplier for any critical part.

[jamesh]

Production is a bit down, as shown by Eben's figures in the Register article. However, demand is also WAY up. So in combination that means, as per the article, we are probably 1-2 million down on where we would like to be.

We re trying really hard to keep industrial customers supplied - people's jobs and livelihoods rely on companies continuing to trade and we understand that. We are still trying to satisfy other demand as well, but as you can imagine, it's quite a difficult juggling act.

As for second sourcing, I would suggest that EVERYONE is struggling for stock, so even second sourcing is unlikely to help.

Reference from El Reg. ""We're running at about half a million Pis a month," says Upton. "That's not enough, it's not nothing – it's a lot of Pis… but I still think we have one to two million units of genuine customer backlog.""

[andrum99]

Second sourcing is no help when everyone is struggling to get silicon in sufficient volume in a timely fashion.

[andrum99]

Bit of mischief making at the end of that Register article, suggesting Raspberry Pi could buy ARM (the company, not the chip architecture)

[bjtheone]

Back to the sup-Pi chain problems, there is clearly a growing frustration about how difficult they are to procure. Given the general shortages, it's also not that useful when the raspberry pies run out to start eating cake instead. At the same time, anyone trying to make a business would be well advised to have more than one supplier for any critical part.

While I fully understand the point you are making I am not sure how realistic it is. Often the supplier develops something special/different that offers either a competitive advantage, facilitates a product that would not be possible otherwise, or offers significantly better terms than their competitors.

It may not be viable to find an alternate, or to design your product to accommodate it, to plan for the impact of a global pandemic. I have been involved with tech for over 40 years and this is the first time that global supply chains are this messed up. Would be a very hard sell to those that ultimately sign the checks, to design in alternates, or only make products that even have alternatives and carry the contingency stock. Do the risk analysis to fully understand the risks, mitigate where possible, and always try and include contingencies in your contracts and commitments. However, at the end of the day most companies don't risk plan for the zombie apocalypse or a multiyear global pandemic.

The rather ironic thing, is that if a company had done that sort of risk management, and had the stock, I bet they would have sold it at massive profits earlier in the pandemic, when the prices spiked, before stuff was simply unavailable, betting that they could find alternatives, or just take the stock price bump and run. Most companies are very immediate profit driven.

[lurk101]

I was petty impressed by the speech made at the UN which ended by pointing out that never a vote was made to admit the Russian Federation after the demise of the Soviet Union. In a way all politics are beyond my understanding.

Nailed it though! The seeds of the current conflagration. A continuance of Western cold-war mentality well beyond the collapse of the Soviet Union.

[AndrewPiEater]

Bit of mischief making at the end of that Register article, suggesting Raspberry Pi could buy ARM (the company, not the chip architecture)

If SoftBank do go ahead and refloat ARM then I will be buying myself a little snippet. Even if the future is RISC V.

[HawaiianPi]

I was also wondering if there is any idea of when the RPI will be back in stock...

I suggest you sign up for in-stock notifications from multiple authorised resellers. They do receive new stock, but then it sells out within hours, or in some cases, minutes (usually to people who signed up and received a notification). That's how I got another 4B and Pi Zero 2 recently.

... and of course, if it will be back with a significative increase in price...

The only model that changed price was the 2GB Pi4B model. That one originally sold for $45 and later the price was reduced to $35, but it has now returned to the original $45 price. All other models sell for the same price they've always been, if you buy from an authorised reseller.

Any inflated pricing you see is from low-life scalpers, which you should not support, because it not only encourages them, but they have no obligation to honor the warranty (which is done through the reseller, not through RPT themselves).

[Joepert]

Check this site out! https://rpilocator.com/

[W. H. Heydt]

One might well wonder if the Silicon chip portion of the sanctions against Russia will help with component supplies. Obviously, the SoCs that Pis use wouldn't have been going there, but there are lots of other chips on a Pi that might be in slightly better supply without the Russians being able to buy them.

(I wouldn't go so far as to say that this large, dark, cloud has a Silver lining, but it might have a slight Silver wash to it.)

[lurk101]

One might well wonder if the Silicon chip portion of the sanctions against Russia will help with component supplies. Obviously, the SoCs that Pis use wouldn't have been going there, but there are lots of other chips on a Pi that might be in slightly better supply without the Russians being able to buy them.

(I wouldn't go so far as to say that this large, dark, cloud has a Silver lining, but it might have a slight Silver wash to it.)

Semiconductor availability is the very least of my concerns!

[jamesh]

One might well wonder if the Silicon chip portion of the sanctions against Russia will help with component supplies. Obviously, the SoCs that Pis use wouldn't have been going there, but there are lots of other chips on a Pi that might be in slightly better supply without the Russians being able to buy them.

(I wouldn't go so far as to say that this large, dark, cloud has a Silver lining, but it might have a slight Silver wash to it.)

Semiconductor availability is the very least of my concerns!

Quite.