Premier Farnell, the Development Distributor, is pleased to announce the launch of Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+, bringing the latest features and capabilities to a more compact form factor and lower price point.

Like the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+, launched in March 2018, it boasts a 64-bit quad core Broadcom BCM2837 processor running at 1.4 GHz, adding significant performance enhancements over the previous model. The board also adds dual-band wireless networking, delivering 2.4GHz and 5GHz IEEE 802.11ac wireless LAN and Bluetooth 4.2 with modular compliance certification. This allows the board to be designed into end products with significantly reduced compliance testing, improving both cost and time to market for professional developers.

Peter Wenzel, Global Director of Raspberry Pi, Single Board Computers, and Software at Premier Farnell said: “As the Development Distributor, Premier Farnell supports customers as they journey from education to maker, right through to their professional careers as they develop products for market. The Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ is more affordable and accessible to the education, hobbyist and professional markets than ever before and is a great addition to the Raspberry Pi 3 family.”

Eben Upton, CEO of Raspberry Pi Trading, added: “The launch of the Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ fills a gap in the Raspberry Pi product line and upgrades our most competitively priced board with the power and processing speed of the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+. This board is ideal for use by educators and makers, for whom multiple USBs, Ethernet connectivity, and 1GB of RAM may not be a requirement; it also presents a cost-effective option for professional use, offering with the same modular compliance certification as the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+. Users will of course benefit from the many communities and forums dedicated to the Raspberry Pi, meaning that they can learn, create and bring products to market faster than ever before.”

The Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ has the same mechanical footprint as the Raspberry Pi 1 Model A+ and will be produced until at least January 2023.

Additional features of the Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ include:

• 512MB LPDDR2 SDRAM
• Extended 40-pin GPIO header
• 1 × full size HDMI, MIPI DSI display port, MIPI CSI camera port, 4 pole stereo output and composite video port
• H.264, MPEG-4 decode (1080p30);H.264 encode (1080p30);OpenGL ES 1.1, 2.0 graphics
• Micro SD format for loading operating system and data storage
• 5 V/2.5 A DC via micro USB connector , 5 V DC via GPIO header
• Operating temperature, 0–50°C

The Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ is available to buy from Newark element14 in North America, element14 in APAC, Farnell element14 across Europe and CPC in the UK and Ireland.