Meet Raspberry Pi Pico W: The ‘W’ stands for Wi-Fi

The Raspberry Pi Pico, released back in January 2021, was a tiny SBC (single board computer) with an equally tiny $4 price tag. Since then, almost 2 million Pico boards have been sold.

Today sees the Pico getting a highly requested feature — Wi-Fi.

And the price tag is still tiny, with the new Raspberry Pi Pico W coming in at only $6.

Not much has changed with the Pico W if you compare it to the Pico.

	Raspberry Pi Pico W	Raspberry Pi Pico
Chip	RP2040 Arm Cortex M0+ Dual Core at 133 MHz	RP2040 Arm Cortex M0+ Dual Core at 133 MHz
RAM	264KB SRAM	264KB SRAM
Storage	2MB Flash	2MB Flash
Wireless connectivity	Infineon CYW43439 supporting 2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n	N/A
Power	Micro USB	Micro USB
GPIO	40-pin GPIO	40-pin GPIO
	26 multi-function pins	26 multi-function pins
	23 x digital I/O	23 x Digital I/O
	3 x analog Inputs	3 x analog Inputs
	2 x UART	2 x UART
	2 x I2C	2 x I2C
	2 x SPI	2 x SPI
	1 x Arm Serial Wire Debug (SWD)	1 x Arm Serial Wire Debug (SWD)
Dimensions	51 x 21 mm	51 x 21 mm
Price	$6	$4

The RP2040 microcontroller is unchanged, and still features a 133MHz dual-core Arm Cortex-M0+ chip, 264KB of SRAM, and 2MB of QSPI flash storage.

And this all fits onto a board measuring 21mm x 51mm. This means that if you have projects that use the Pico, but could benefit from Wi-Fi, the Pico W is a drop-in replacement.

But the eagle-eyed might notice a metallic square. 

This is the home for the Infineon CYW43439 chip that supports 2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi.

That chip also supports Bluetooth 5.2, but at launch only Wi-Fi is supported.

The real question is whether Wi-Fi is worth the $2. The jump from $4 to $6 is quite a jump, but if you need wireless, it’s worth it for the on-board solution.

Also new is a Pico with pre-soldered header pins, called the Pico H for $5. Coming in August is a Pico WH, a Wi-Fi version with header pins, which will set you back $7.

The Raspberry Pi Pico W is available immediately.