Since the launch of the very first Raspberry Pi, more than 12 million units have been sold. In November 2015, the Foundation hit back at numerous attempts to undercut the Pi's market dominance by announcing an entry-level addition to the family called the Pi Zero. Now, a year after including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in the Pi 3 Model B, a wireless-ready Zero has been released – the Pi Zero W.
The Zero W rocks almost identical specs to the plain old Zero before it, with the addition of the same Cypress CYW43438 chip as last year's wireless-packing Model B plus a Proant antenna. This gives the teeny board 802.11n wireless LAN and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity – for twice the price of the original Zero. Despite this price hike, the new board should still represent a good saving on having to buy a Zero, a wireless adapter and an OTG adapter to bring cable-free projects to life.
Elsewhere, the W has a 1 GHz, single-core processor at its heart, supported by 512 MB of RAM. It rocks a 40-pin, HAT-compatible header, composite video and reset headers, a CSI camera connector, a mini-HDMI port, a micro-USB OTG port and micro-USB power.
The new Pi Zero W is priced at just US$10, which will doubtless make it very attractive for the numerous DIY IoT projects to come. And if you want an official enclosure to house your wireless-capable Zero W, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has got you covered with a set that offers three different lid configurations.
Have a look at board's developers discussing the W in the video below.
Source: Raspberry Pi Foundation
