{ "archive_path": "archive/1793138714.675273", "base_url": "bret.dk/raspberry-pi-zero-3-w-pi-4-model-a", "basename": "", "bookmarked_date": "2026-10-27 22:05", "canonical": { "archive_org_path": "https://web.archive.org/web/bret.dk/raspberry-pi-zero-3-w-pi-4-model-a", "dom_path": "output.html", "favicon_path": "favicon.ico", "git_path": "git/", "google_favicon_path": "https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=bret.dk", "headers_path": "headers.json", "htmltotext_path": "htmltotext.txt", "index_path": "index.html", "media_path": "media/", "mercury_path": "mercury/content.html", "pdf_path": "output.pdf", "readability_path": "readability/content.html", "screenshot_path": "screenshot.png", "singlefile_path": "singlefile.html", "warc_path": "warc/", "wget_path": "bret.dk/raspberry-pi-zero-3-w-pi-4-model-a/index.html" }, "domain": "bret.dk", "extension": "", "hash": "1MCD8RKG2B24V74NJAMA", "history": { "archive_org": [], "dom": [], "favicon": [ { "cmd": [ "curl", "--silent", "--location", "--compressed", "--max-time", "120", "--output", "favicon.ico", "--user-agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) curl/curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=bret.dk" ], "cmd_version": "curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "end_ts": "2026-10-27T22:07:07.869588+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "favicon.ico", "pwd": "/data/archive/1793138714.675273", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-10-27T22:07:07.402283+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "git": [], "headers": [ { "cmd": [ "curl", "--silent", "--location", "--compressed", "--head", "--max-time", "120", "--user-agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) curl/curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "https://bret.dk/raspberry-pi-zero-3-w-pi-4-model-a/" ], "cmd_version": "curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)", "end_ts": "2026-10-27T22:07:08.423335+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "headers.json", "pwd": "/data/archive/1793138714.675273", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-10-27T22:07:07.882441+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "htmltotext": [], "media": [], "mercury": [ { "cmd": [ "/app/node_modules/@postlight/parser/cli.js", "https://bret.dk/raspberry-pi-zero-3-w-pi-4-model-a/" ], "cmd_version": "1.0.0", "end_ts": "2026-10-27T22:07:16.275006+00:00", "index_texts": null, "output": "mercury", "pwd": "/data/archive/1793138714.675273", "schema": "ArchiveResult", "start_ts": "2026-10-27T22:07:12.362446+00:00", "status": "succeeded" } ], "pdf": [], "readability": [ { "cmd": [ "/app/node_modules/readability-extractor/readability-extractor", "/tmp/tmpm0rguamu", "https://bret.dk/raspberry-pi-zero-3-w-pi-4-model-a/" ], "cmd_version": "0.0.11", "end_ts": "2026-10-27T22:07:12.355342+00:00", "index_texts": [ "Two new Raspberry Pi boards have quietly turned up in Raspberry Pi\u2019s Linux kernel tree, and neither of them is quite what I\u2019d have guessed. Device tree files for a\u00a0Raspberry Pi Zero 3 W\u00a0and a\u00a0Raspberry Pi 4 Model A\u00a0have landed (Phoronix spotted it first), and whilst there\u2019s no official announcement just yet, device tree files tend to give away a surprising amount if you can decipher them and I gave it my best shot.\n\n\n\n\n\nRaspberry Pi Zero 3 W: A Pi 4 Shrunk Down?Raspberry Pi 4 Model A: The Return of the AHow Do They Compare?What We Don\u2019t Know (Yet)Thoughts\nRaspberry Pi Zero 3 W: A Pi 4 Shrunk Down?\n\n\n\nThe Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W launched almost exactly five years ago (tomorrow, in fact), so a successor has been a loooooong time coming. If you want a refresher on where things stood back then, my\u00a0Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W vs Zero W benchmarks\u00a0piece covers the jump from the original pretty well.\n\n\n\nThe headline from the\u00a0Zero 3 W device tree\u00a0is the SoC. It\u2019s the\u00a0Broadcom BCM2711, the same quad-core Cortex-A72 chip that powers the\u00a0Raspberry Pi 4, replacing the\u00a0Zero 2 W\u2019s\u00a0quad-core 1GHz Cortex-A53 RP3A0. If you want an idea of the sort of gap we\u2019re talking about, it\u2019s worth having a look at how those two compare on sbc.compare. That\u2019s a big step up in per-core performance, and if they can get anything close to Pi 4 clocks in that tiny footprint, it\u2019ll be a hell of a lot of compute for a Zero. I do wonder how toasty it\u2019s going to get though, as the BCM2711 isn\u2019t exactly known for running cool, and there\u2019s not a lot of board for the heat to spread into. The device tree doesn\u2019t tell us anything about clock speeds, so we\u2019ll have to wait and see whether it\u2019s been dialled back.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBeyond the SoC, here\u2019s what else stood out to me:\n\n\n\n\neMMC on a Zero?\u00a0The storage controller is configured with an 8-bit bus width and a comment describing it as driving \u201cthe eMMC/SD card\u201d, which only really makes sense for eMMC. I\u2019d love to see it, but I\u2019m not expecting it to make the final board, as it\u2019d push the price up on a range that lives and dies by its price tag. My money is on this being a leftover or an option kept open during development, and microSD being what we get.\n\n\n\nAn SPI flash bootloader.\u00a0The GPIO names include SPI flash lines, which suggests the Zero 3 W gets the same EEPROM-based bootloader as the Pi 4 (the Zero 2 W never had one). That should bring the Pi 4\u2019s boot options along with it, and the ability to\u00a0update the bootloader\u00a0in the usual way.\n\n\n\nA single HDMI output, with the second HDMI controller permanently disabled. No surprise there given the form factor.\n\n\n\nA power button\u00a0defined on GPIO 46 and mapped to KEY_POWER, so we may be getting a physical button (or at least a header for one) much like the Pi 5.\n\n\n\nWi-Fi and Bluetooth\u00a0wired up in the same way as the rest of the BCM2711 family, with a single ACT LED for status.\n\n\n\nThe usual 40-pin GPIO layout\u00a0(GPIO 0-27 with the ID EEPROM pins), so your existing HATs should be fine.\n\n\n\n\nThere are a couple of more speculative bits too. The PCIe controller is enabled and there are lines named PCIE_PWR_EN and PCIE_DET_WAKE, and the camera side pulls in a 4-lane CSI configuration rather than the 2-lane one the Pi 4 Model B uses. It\u2019s worth noting that both device trees share a lot of copy-and-paste DNA (the Zero 3 W even has a duplicated \u201cPWR_GPIO\u201d line name), so I wouldn\u2019t read too much into either of those until we see an actual board. I\u2019d love to see PCIe exposed on a Zero, but I\u2019m not holding my breath.\n\n\n\nRaspberry Pi 4 Model A: The Return of the A\n\n\n\nThe second surprise is a\u00a0Raspberry Pi 4 Model A. We haven\u2019t had a Model A since the Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ back in 2018, and the formula has always been the same: take the Model B, strip out the bits most people can live without (RJ45, some USB ports etc), and knock a chunk off the price. The Pi 4 Model A looks to follow that recipe pretty closely, though the price comment may not quite hold. Let\u2019s see!\n\n\n\n\nNo Ethernet.\u00a0The Ethernet controller isn\u2019t enabled anywhere, and the GPIO lines that drive the Ethernet PHY on the Model B have been repurposed. Very much in keeping with previous Model A boards.\n\n\n\nA single HDMI output\u00a0rather than the Model B\u2019s dual micro HDMI.\n\n\n\nNo 3.5mm audio/composite jack.\u00a0The analogue audio pins are empty and the composite video encoder is disabled, so audio will be over HDMI (or USB/I2S if you\u2019re that way inclined).\n\n\n\nmicroSD only, with the same 1.8V signalling support as the Model B for the faster UHS card modes.\n\n\n\nExternal antenna support.\u00a0This is the one I find most interesting. There are two antenna control lines (ANT_CTRL1 and ANT_CTRL2) and overlay parameters named\u00a0ant1,\u00a0ant2\u00a0and\u00a0noant, which is exactly how the Compute Module 4 switches between its onboard antenna and an external U.FL connector. If that carries over to the final board, it\u2019d be a lovely addition for anyone sticking a Pi in a metal enclosure.\n\n\n\nPWR and ACT LEDs, the same SPI flash bootloader setup as the Model B, and the same power button definition as the Zero 3 W.\n\n\n\n\nThe device tree doesn\u2019t tell us anything about USB. On the Model B, the USB 3 ports made use of the PCIe bus, and the PCIe controller is enabled here too, so USB 3 is possible, but the 3 Model A+ only had a single USB-A port and I\u2019d probably expect the same here.\n\n\n\nThe previous Model A, the Raspberry Pi 3 Model A from 2017\n\n\n\nHow Do They Compare?\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a quick side-by-side of what the device trees tell us, with the Pi 4 Model B thrown in for good measure. Anything marked with an asterisk is my interpretation of the device tree rather than something it states outright.\n\n\n\nRaspberry Pi Zero 3 WRaspberry Pi 4 Model ARaspberry Pi 4 Model BSoCBroadcom BCM2711Broadcom BCM2711Broadcom BCM2711CPUQuad-core Cortex-A72Quad-core Cortex-A72Quad-core Cortex-A72HDMI1x1x2x micro HDMIEthernetNoNoGigabitWi-Fi/BluetoothYesYes, with antenna switching*YesStoragemicroSD (unless..)microSDmicroSDAnalogue Audio/CompositeNoNoYes (3.5mm)SPI Flash BootloaderYes*Yes*YesPower ButtonYes*Yes*NoLEDsACTPWR, ACTPWR, ACT\n\n\n\nWhat We Don\u2019t Know (Yet)\n\n\n\nQuite a lot, I\u2019m afraid. Device trees don\u2019t describe RAM, so there\u2019s no word on memory configurations, and there\u2019s nothing on pricing, clock speeds, connector types or a release date either.\n\n\n\nPricing is the big one for me. Memory costs haven\u2019t exactly been kind lately (I covered the last round of increases alongside the\u00a01GB Raspberry Pi 5 launch), and a lower-cost Pi 4 variant makes a lot of sense in that context. The BCM2711 is a mature chip at this point, it\u2019s well supported in software, and a cut-down board gives people who don\u2019t need a Pi 5 something cheaper to reach for. The Zero 3 W is a tougher one to call though, as the Zero range has always lived and died by its price, and I can\u2019t imagine the BCM2711 being as cheap to build around as the RP3A0.\n\n\n\nThoughts\n\n\n\nOn the whole, I like what I\u2019m seeing here. The Zero 3 W looks like the upgrade a lot of people have been asking for since the Zero 2 W landed, and the 4 Model A feels like a sensible way of squeezing more life out of the Pi 4 platform at a time when components aren\u2019t getting any cheaper. The external antenna support on the 4 Model A is a really nice touch if it makes it to the final board.\n\n\n\nSaying that, everything above comes from device tree files rather than an official spec sheet, so mileage may vary when the real thing turns up. Kernel support landing ahead of launch is usually a good sign that it\u2019s not far off, and you can bet I\u2019ll be throwing both the Zero 3 W and the 4 Model A onto sbc.compare as soon as I can get one in my hands.\n\n\n\nWhich of the two are you more excited about? Do let me know in the comments!\n\n\n\nSourcesbcm2711-rpi-zero-3-w.dtsbcm2711-rpi-4-a.dts\n\n\n\nRelated posts: Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W vs Zero W Benchmarks \u2013 Pi Zero Showdown \u2013 1GB Raspberry Pi 5 Launched Alongside Price Increases\n\n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n \n \n Bret\n Bret has worked with Raspberry Pi computers for almost 10 years now and in that time he's benchmarked and tested over 30 Single Board computers. 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