We have recently learned about the state of health that the Raspberry Pi is going through, and that is that the company’s CEO, Eben Upton, has granted an interview to Youtuber Jeff Geerling, for which the influencer has traveled to the United Kingdom. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss and Clarify issues regarding product shortages that shakes the core of the company and its plans for the future.
In the interview produced, there has been a review of the predictions that Upton himself gave in 2022 for the future of the company and there has been a discussion about how sales are, what happens with the Raspberry Pi 5, the shortage of products and other topics hot news.
The shortage of Raspberry Pi and its sales figures
Among the statements made by Eben Upton, he assured Geerling that the company is in the situation already announced last year. On the part of the CEO, it is stated that stock levels are gradually improving, thus approaching the prediction that Upton himself gave for the past 2022. The company, which manufactures low-cost single-board computers in the United Kingdom, seems be resurfacing and start accumulating stock for the satisfaction of its customers.
Upton publicly stated that “the first quarter of this year (2023) was our worst quarter in terms of production and shipping. Partly because we put out quite a bit of production over the Christmas period because we wanted to build a reasonably good Christmas. The first quarter of this year (2023) was our lowest production quarter, I think since the third quarter of 2015. We did between 750,000 and 800,000 units in the first quarter of 2023.”
The figures given may seem high, however, although they are important data, these are still insufficient given the great existing demand. In addition, the CEO of the corporation stressed that this is the worst production data they have handled since 2015.
As a result of the pandemic that affected the whole world, Raspberry Pi began to become scarce, restrictions and lack of stock were the usual tonic. Thus resellers who once had abundant supplies were forced to use disparate methods to restrict sales. About this situation, the Youtuber Geerling asks the CEO, who states that “people came to this situation of scarcity with lots and lots of Raspberry Pi.”
Upton also listed the sales figures, these being 6 million units in 2019, 7 million units in 2020 and 2021, and only 5 million units sold in the year 2022, when the problem was uncovered due to the shortage of chips, and that is that the increase in the cost of transport and raw materials generated production problems. Looking ahead to this year, the CEO stated that it is estimated that the company has the capacity to make 10 million units a year, which means monthly sales of one million units.
What is the future of the Raspberry Pi 3B, 3B+, 4 and 5?
The CEO of the company believes that these models cowill start to recover substantially towards the end of this quarter. However, it doesn’t seem like the same future for the Raspberry Pi 5Or so it seems.
So much so that, during the interview, it is not mentioned at any time, so everything seems to indicate that it is not among the medium or long-term plans of the corporation. Everything seems to indicate that after the situation experienced and the shortage suffered, the company will first try to meet the demands.
