The Raspberry Pi Pico went on sale at the start of the year and is powered by the RP2040 SoC. Furthermore, the RP2040 surface mount device (SMD) integrated circuit (IC – the chip itself) has been available to select industry patterns.Hence Pimoroni, Adafruit et al being able to develop spin-off RP2040-packing products.
It turns out that because of unprecedented demand the programme to provide the RP2040 IC package was accelerated by three months to the beginning of June 2021. This resulted in 40,000 units being pulled out of general circulation and offered to makers and other businesses at the price of $1.