Orange Pi 5 Ultra released as unusual new single-board computer with HDMI in
Shenzhen Xunlong Software has quietly updated the Orange Pi 5 series with a new model. For context, the company released the Orange Pi 5 Max (curr. $145.99 on Amazon) over the summer. Now, it has introduced the Orange Pi 5 Ultra, which sounds like an improved version of the Orange Pi 5 Max on the face of it.
It seems the opposite is actually true, though. Nonetheless, Shenzhen Xunlong Software bases the Orange Pi 5 Ultra on the same Rockchip RK3588 chipset and LPDDR5 RAM as the existing Orange Pi 5 Max. Moreover, the newer single-board computer (SBC) offers M.2 M-Key (PCIe 3.0 x4) SSD expansion, as well as an eMMC interface for built-in storage.
Likewise, the Orange Pi 5 Ultra features a 40-pin GPIO header, a PCIe expansion interface and support for Bluetooth 5.3/Wi-Fi 6E connectivity. However, Shenzhen Xunlong Software has swapped one of the HDMI 2.1 outputs in the Orange Pi 5 Max for an HDMI 2.0 input in the Orange Pi 5 Ultra. As far as we can tell, that is the only difference that exists between the pair. Nonetheless, the inclusion of a HDMI input allows the Orange Pi 5 Ultra to serve as a capture card or a local video streamer, among other use cases.
Currently, the Orange Pi 5 Ultra is only available on AliExpress, where it sells for $125 with 16 GB of RAM. With that being said, it appears that Shenzhen Xunlong Software intends to offer its new SBC on Amazon at some stage. Similarly, it looks as though the Orange Pi 5 Ultra will be sold in cheaper 4 GB and 8 GB of RAM variants at some stage too.
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