A New Chip from Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi made waves in the microcontroller world when they launched the RP2040 in 2021 — a capable, affordable chip that powered the original Pico and found its way into dozens of third-party boards. Now, the follow-up chip — the RP2350 — has arrived, and it brings meaningful upgrades across the board.

The RP2350 powers the new Raspberry Pi Pico 2 and is already appearing in boards from third-party manufacturers. Here's a thorough look at what's changed and what it means for your projects.

What's New in the RP2350?

Updated CPU Cores

The RP2040 used dual Cortex-M0+ cores running at up to 133 MHz. The RP2350 upgrades to dual Cortex-M33 cores at up to 150 MHz. The M33 is a more modern ARM core with better performance per clock cycle, hardware divide instructions, and improved DSP extensions — making floating-point math and signal processing noticeably faster.

Optional RISC-V Cores

In a genuinely surprising move, the RP2350 includes two Hazard3 RISC-V cores as an alternative to the ARM cores. Users can choose to boot into either ARM or RISC-V mode. This makes the RP2350 one of the first widely available, affordable chips to offer a real choice between architectures — a significant development for the open-source hardware community.

More Memory

The RP2350 doubles the on-chip SRAM to 520 KB (from 264 KB in the RP2040) and the Pico 2 ships with 4 MB of onboard flash. The increased RAM is particularly welcome for more complex MicroPython scripts, larger framebuffers, or buffering sensor data.

Security Features

The RP2350 introduces ARM TrustZone support and a secure boot architecture. For makers building commercial or semi-commercial products, this opens up the possibility of protecting firmware from copying and securing communication with trusted peripherals — features previously uncommon at this price point.

Improved Peripherals

  • 12 new PWM channels (up from 8)
  • Three PIO state machines per block (up from two), with two PIO blocks total
  • Hardware interpolator improvements
  • A new HSTX (High-Speed TX) peripheral for driving displays and high-bandwidth outputs

Raspberry Pi Pico 2 Highlights

The reference board for the RP2350 is the Pico 2, which keeps the same familiar 40-pin form factor as the original Pico — meaning existing HATs, breakout boards, and wiring diagrams remain largely compatible. Key specs:

  • RP2350 chip (dual Cortex-M33 or dual RISC-V Hazard3)
  • 520 KB SRAM, 4 MB onboard flash
  • USB 1.1 host and device support
  • 26 multi-function GPIO pins
  • 3-pin ARM SWD debug port
  • Priced competitively with the original Pico

SDK and Language Support

Raspberry Pi has updated both the C/C++ SDK and MicroPython to support the RP2350. The transition from RP2040-based projects should be relatively smooth for most use cases. CircuitPython support from Adafruit is also expected as the ecosystem matures.

What This Means for the Maker Ecosystem

The RP2350 positions Raspberry Pi as a serious competitor in the microcontroller silicon market. Third-party board manufacturers — including Adafruit (with the Feather RP2350), SparkFun, Pimoroni, and others — are already releasing RP2350-based boards, expanding the ecosystem quickly.

For hobbyists and engineers choosing a microcontroller platform in the near future, the RP2350 offers a compelling combination of performance, price, security, and architectural flexibility. Whether you're building sensor nodes, display drivers, motor controllers, or audio projects, it's a platform worth watching closely.

Should You Upgrade from RP2040?

If you have existing RP2040 projects, there's no urgent need to migrate. The RP2040 remains in production and well-supported. But for new projects, the RP2350's extra RAM, faster cores, and improved security make it the stronger foundation going forward.