element14 launches Raspberry Pi 3
New faster, more powerful board is the first “out of the box IoT ready” Raspberry Pi
element14, the market leading manufacturer and distributor of the Raspberry Pi are today announcing the launch of the new Raspberry Pi 3 Model B. The new generation board is faster and more powerful than ever before and comes with built-in Wireless and Bluetooth connectivity. This new board adds to element14’s broad product portfolio which includes a world class ecosystem of accessories such as the recently launched Raspberry Pi Touchscreen Display.
The new Raspberry Pi 3 is available to buy today from element14, for a price of USD35 and is built on a new QUAD Core Broadcom BCM2837 64bit ARMv8 processor (running an ARMv7 operating system) at 1.20GHz, a significant increase from 900MHz on the Raspberry Pi 2. It has improved power management and an upgraded switched power source up to 2.5 Amps to support more powerful external USB devices.
With support for Bluetooth Low Energy and Wireless LAN, the Raspberry Pi 3 can support new and exciting application areas ‘out of the box’, such as IoT connectivity, streaming to Bluetooth headphones or speakers, Wi-Fi gateways and home cloud storage.
Today, as we celebrate the 4th birthday of Raspberry Pi, we reach another major milestone on the Pi journey with the launch of an even faster, technically advanced board for an amazing price of USD35. The new Raspberry Pi 3 Model B offers a higher level of performance than any other Raspberry Pi board on the market.
We are very excited, as the leading manufacturer and distributor of the Raspberry Pi, to launch this product and to get it into the hands of customers worldwide. Supported by our growing accessory portfolio, the new Raspberry Pi3 allows customers to develop specific applications and build new projects - and we can’t wait to see what customers will do with it!
To further extend element14’s extensive ecosystem and enable users to get even more out of their new Raspberry Pi 3, element14 today is also launching three new accessories:
- The new 16GB NOOBS Micro SD card featuring all of the software users need to get started quickly and easily
- A unique 2.5A Raspberry Pi power supply which will enable users to power their Pi and ‘add-on’ boards all from one power source – maximising the benefits of the Pi3’s improved power management capabilities
- A new Raspberry Pi 3 case
Speaking at the launch event, Eben Upton, CEO of Raspbery Pi Trading said:
Four years ago today, we launched the first Raspberry Pi with our friends at Premier Farnell. Today we’re launching Raspberry Pi 3: it’s still $35 and it’s still the size of your credit card, but now it comes with on-board wireless LAN and Bluetooth, 50% more processing power, and a 64-bit quadcore processor. The new Raspberry Pi opens up even more possibilities for IoT and embedded projects; we hope you like it as much as we do.
We are excited to deliver the power of Windows 10 on the new Raspberry Pi 3 board. We continue to improve our platform enabling more and more Raspberry Pi capabilities on Windows 10 IoT Core.
The new Raspberry Pi 3 is available to buy from 29th February from CPC in the UK (£26.38),element14 in Europe (£27.86), Newark element14 in North America (US$35.00), and element14 in China and Asia Pacific(S$50.00/AU$56.00).
Ends
Notes to editors
Raspberry Pi 3 key features:
The Raspberry Pi 3 offers backwards compatibility by following the same form factor as the Pi 2, including the following key features:
- 40pin extended GPIO
- CSI camera port for connecting the Raspberry Pi camera
- DSI display port for connecting the Raspberry Pi touch screen display
- 4 x USB 2 ports
- 4 pole Stereo output and Composite video port
- Full size HDMI
- Micro SD port for loading your operating system and storing data
Four years of Raspberry Pi:
Since its launch in February 2012, element14 has sold five million Raspberry Pi boards and launched over 30 exclusive accessories specifically designed and manufactured to expand the usability of the Raspberry Pi for millions of customers worldwide.
The element14 Community has become one of the leading websites for discussion and collaboration around Raspberry Pi projects and developments. With around 400,000 registered users, the element14 Community is the largest online community for design engineers to share ideas, knowledge and solve challenges.
About the Premier Farnell Group
Premier Farnell plc (LSE:pfl) is a global leader in high service distribution of technology products and solutions for electronic system design, prototype maintenance and repair. Its design services arm supports OEMs, CEMs and suppliers through its Embest and AVID business units to design and manufacture development kits and tools.
Trading as Farnell element14 in Europe, Newark element14 in North America and element14 across Asia Pacific, the group had sales last year of £960m and is supported by a global supply chain of more than 3,000 suppliers and an inventory profile developed to anticipate and meet its customers’ needs.
element14 is the market leader in single board computers, and this business is made available to consumers through a network of resellers, as well as its MCM business in North America and CPC business in the UK.
The latest products, software, services and solutions from trusted supplier partners are all available through 43 local language transactional websites. The element14 Community allows buyers and engineers to access a wide range of independent technical information, tools and the latest resources and the Design Center enables design engineers to compare kits from the world’s greatest range of development tools.
For news updates from Premier Farnell and element14 visit:
Premier Farnell News Centre – www.premierfarnell.com/media-centre
Twitter - @element14
YouTube – element14
Facebook – facebook.com/element14page
Email: pressoffice@premierfarnell.com
Premier Farnell Key facts
- Operations in 38 different countries
- More than 4,500 employees
- More than 3,000 leading suppliers
- More than 600,000 products stocked with access to over four million more on demand
- Leaders in providing information on REACH, Conflict Minerals and EU RoHS legislation
For more information visit the website at Premier Farnell.
