Raspberry Pi rockets to 2 million sales, beats own expectations

Raspberry Pi rocket
Solar fruit

The Raspberry Pi Foundation's plan is ahead of schedule, it seems, with everybody and their dog wanting a tasty slice of affordable coding goodness.

The maker of the diminutive £24 (around $35, or AU$37) computer had set its sights on shifting 2 million Raspberry Pis by the end of February 2014, two years since the first version went on sale.

Liz Upton, who handles communications for the charity, has revealed in a blog post that the goal was smashed by the end of October 2013, one year after the millionth Pi was sold.

She wrote: "It took us almost exactly a year to sell the first million Raspberry Pis. going on that basis, we calculated that we might, if we were lucky, reach the second million around January 2014, or slightly afterwards - we were confident we'd get there by the end of February 2014.

"So it was a bit of a shock at the end of last week when we got the latest sales figures and discovered that the 2,000,000th Raspberry Pi was sold in the last week of October."

Bake it yourself

Originally designed to help people learn computer programming, it's become a smash hit among DIY tech hobbyists, with owners having created anything from monitors to electrical engineering tools.

It's also seen a number of official accessories made for it, including an infra-red camera used for shooting photos or videos in low light conditions. Two versions of the Pi can be bought online: the introductory Type A single computer with 256MB RAM (£24 - around $35, or AU$37) and the Type B board, which is designed for Internet use and comes with 512MB RAM (£31.20 - around $50, or AU$33).

The first 2000 Raspberry Pis were manufactured in China before production was moved to Wales in September 2012.

Kane Fulton
Kane has been fascinated by the endless possibilities of computers since first getting his hands on an Amiga 500+ back in 1991. These days he mostly lives in realm of VR, where he's working his way into the world Paddleball rankings in Rec Room.
Latest in Pro
Cloud, networking and internet
Under the hood of data sovereignty
A business woman looking at AI on a transparent screen
Businesses are facing an "AI Divide" - which could be the difference between success and failure
Apple Vision Pro with Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE platform
Dassault Systèmes teams up with Apple to use Vision Pro headsets to bring spatial CAD to life
A graphic showing fleet tracking locations over a city.
Lost & Found tracking site hit by major data breach - over 800,000 could be affected
US President Donald Trump speaks to the press as he signs an executive order to create a US sovereign wealth fund, in the Oval Office of the White House on February 3, 2025, in Washington, DC.
US set to pause cyber-offensive operations against Russia - but CISA says it won't stop
Web DDoS attacks see major surge as AI allows more powerful attacks
Latest in News
Google Gemini iPhone Lock Screen
You can now access Gemini from your iPhone's lock screen
Michelle, Keats, and Doctor Amherst looking unimpressed and worried in The Electric State
Netflix drops trailer for The Electric State, and I'm getting serious District 9 vibes
YouTube TV
YouTube TV might be planning a big Netflix update that puts the best streaming services first
Google Pixel 9 Pro
Here are the 7 best Pixel 9 and Pixel Watch 3 features landing in March’s Pixel Feature Drop
Bang & Olufsen Beogram 4000C Saint Laurent Rive Droite Edition
Bang & Olufsen's latest reworked turntable is a masterpiece of retro revival, in a breathtaking wooden presentation box
Apple Watch Series 10
Apple unveils new Apple Watch bands – here's what's in the Spring 2025 collection