The company’s first SBC, Raspberry Pi 1 model B+, was announced four years ago in February 2012. The first sign of the existence of an upcoming Raspberry Pi 3 model B board comes exactly one year after the release of Raspberry Pi 2 in February 2015.
The new Raspberry Pi 3 model B has the same basic design as earlier Raspberry Pi mini-computers. It has both built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth/Bluetooth LE using an on-board antenna. The Bluetooth LE or Low Energy, also known as Bluetooth Smart is aimed at healthcare apps, fitness, home and entertainment and security industries. It seems to only support 2.4GHz networks, and not 5GHz. That suggests it will support 802.11n, but not the faster 802.11ac standard.
Going by the pictures posted to the FCC website, the Raspberry Pi 3 looks nearly identical to version 2. It has HDMI and Ethernet jacks, four USB ports, a microSD card reader, and a 40-pin connector IO pins, all in a credit-card form factor. More details about the forthcoming Raspberry Pi 3 Model B single-board computer are expected to be revealed at the end of February 2016. Also, there’s no word on how much the new Raspberry Pi 3 will cost, or if there are any changes to the processor, memory, or other specs. Since then the hardware has undergone several revisions, the base price for its flagship products is expected to be about $35 (£25).
