The smallest Raspberry Pi gets a new version with built-in Wi-Fi

introduces several new variants of Pico. The most famous of these, the Raspberry Pi Pico W, adds built-in Wi-Fi connectivity to the board and increases the price from $4 to $6.

Raspberry Pi founder Eben Upton writes that the Infineon CYW43439 Wi-Fi chip used for the Pi Pico only uses the old 802.11n (or Wi-Fi 4) protocol at 2.4GHz. This chipset also includes built-in Bluetooth support, like most other Pi wireless products, but Bluetooth support is currently disabled. Adding Bluetooth to devices usually requires another level of FCC certification in the US, and other countries have their own rules that may explain the omission. Upton says Bluetooth support may be enabled “in the future.”

There will be two additional versions of the Pico that add pre-installed pins and a 3-pin debug header to the base Pico board. A version called “Pico H”without Wi-Fi will cost $5 instead of $4, while a Wi-Fi version of Pico WH will cost $7 instead of $6.