Compact Power Meets Wireless Innovation
A few months back we were all excited to hear the news of the all-new Raspberry Pi Pico 2 along with their new RP2350 MCU line-up release.
Although everyone expected the release of Pico 2 W along with it, just like in the past Raspberry Pi waited a few months before announcing its launch. Raspberry Pi has officially launched the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W, at just 7$, with just a 2$ increase from the non-wireless Pico 2 variant.
The all-new official Raspberry Pi Pico 2W comes with Infineon’s CYW43439 based wireless module for communication. The on-board CYW43439 modem provides 2.4GHz 802.11n wireless LAN and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity and is supported by C and MicroPython libraries.
( Raspberry Pi Pico 2W )
Apart from the added wireless connectivity, all other features and specifications of the Raspberry Pico 2W remain the same as the none wireless Pico 2 variants. With the same footprint, size, RP2350 dual-core Arm Cortex-M33 and RISC-V Hazard processors at a stock 150MHz, TrustZone security system, 520kB static RAM (SRAM), 4MB quad-SPI flash, and 26 exposed general-purpose input/output (GPIO) pins the Pico 2W is a drop in upgrade over its predecessors. Raspberry Pi Foundation also assures that the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 series will remain in production until at least January 2040, which is beneficial for long-term product development and deployments. Here’s the updated table including the Raspberry Pi Pico 2W:
Here is a comparison table for the Pico-series Microcontrollers:
| Feature | Pico (1st Gen) | Pico W (1st Gen) | Pico 2 (2nd Gen) | Pico 2 W (2nd Gen) |
| Microcontroller Chip | RP2040 | RP2040 | RP2350 | RP2350 |
| Processor | Dual Cortex M0+ | Dual Cortex M0+ | Dual Cortex M33 or Hazard3 | Dual Cortex M33 or Hazard3 |
| Clock Speed | Up to 133 MHz | Up to 133 MHz | Up to 150 MHz | Up to 150 MHz |
| SRAM | 264 KB | 264 KB | 520 KB | 520 KB |
| Flash Memory | 2 MB | 2 MB | 4 MB | 4 MB |
| USB Support | USB 1.1 | USB 1.1 | USB 1.1 | USB 1.1 |
| Wireless Connectivity | No | 802.11n Wi-Fi, BT 5.2 | No | 802.11n Wi-Fi, BT 5.2 |
| Programmable I/O (PIO) | 8 state machines | 8 state machines | 12 state machines | 12 state machines |
| GPIO Pins | 26 multi-function | 26 multi-function | 26 multi-function | 26 multi-function |
| ADC Channels | 3 × 12-bit | 3 × 12-bit | 3 × 12-bit, 500ksps | 3 × 12-bit, 500ksps |
| PWM Channels | 16 | 16 | 24 | 24 |
| Headers | Castellated | Castellated | Castellated | Pre-soldered headers |
| SWD Header | 3 castellated pins | Keyed 3-pin connector | 3 castellated pins | Keyed 3-pin connector |
| Additional Features | Temperature Sensor | Temperature Sensor | Temperature Sensor | Temperature Sensor |
| PIN on Wireless | – | Shared SPI pins for wireless | – | Shared SPI pins for wireless |
This table consolidates key features and differences between the Pico-series microcontrollers.
(Image Source: https://www.raspberrypi.com)