Orange Pi Zero2: A miniature Raspberry Pi a quad-core SoC and HDMI 2.0a

Shenzhen Xunlong Software is having a busy time lately, with it only recently releasing a refreshed version of Orange Pi Zero, called the Orange Pi Zero LTS. Now it is readying the Orange Pi Zero2, the aptly named successor to the Orange Pi Zero, which should offer more performance and possibilities than its predecessor.

The single-board computer (SBC) is based on an Allwinner H6, an SoC that combines four ARM Cortex-A53 cores and an ARM Mali-T720 GPU among other components. The latter also supports OpenGL through to ES 3.1 and DirectX 11. Shenzhen Xunlong Software complements the Allwinner H6 with 512 MB of LPDDR3 RAM and 4 GB of eMMC flash storage, although the Pi Zero2 also supports up to 32 GB microSD cards should you need additional space. The board also includes a full-sized HDMI 2.0a port, which is something of a rarity among small SBCs.

The Pi Zero2 supports all modern Wi-Fi standards up to IEEE 802.11 n too, along with Bluetooth 4.2 and 100 MBit Ethernet. We would have preferred to see Gigabit Ethernet, but at least the board has USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 connections. Better still, there is a 26-pin Raspberry Pi header too, along with a 3-pin UART header for serial console debugging.

The SBC requires 5 V for power, which can be supplied either via USB OTG or a DC jack. Incidentally, the Pi Zero2 measures 55 x 55 mm and weighs just 34 g. The board should support Android 7.0, Debian and Ubuntu, although CNX Software points out that these pre-release OS lists are not always complete or correct. Shenzhen Xunlong Software is also remaining quiet on pricing and availability, although you can expect the Pi Zero2 to sell for around US$20 if the pricing of previous Orange Pi devices is anything to go by.