Thunderberry5 powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC
Owing to their relatively low cost, SBCs frequently employ inexpensive chips; Raspberry Pi utilizes a Broadcom SoC, while other clones often choose RockChip or MTK chips. However, no SBCs have been seen utilizing the renowned Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC—until now. A French company named MakeMyBoard has unveiled the Thunderberry5, a single-board computer featuring a Qualcomm SoC.
Image credit: Make My Board / Luigi Grasso
Touted as the first SBC equipped with a Qualcomm AI-CPU, the Thunderberry5 employs the Qualcomm QCS610 Snapdragon SoC, comprising eight Kryo 460 cores: two high-performance cores clocked at 2.2 GHz and six energy-efficient cores at 1.8 GHz. This configuration far surpasses the Raspberry Pi, and the SoC’s built-in NPU, which supports AI acceleration, is well-suited to the current AI boom.
In terms of other specifications, the Thunderberry5 features an Adreno 612 GPU, supporting HEVC encoding and decoding up to 4K30, 4GB LPDDR4 RAM, 64GB eMMC 5.1 storage, wireless WiFi, HDMI, DSI display connectivity, and more. It also includes a gyroscope and accelerometer sensors for more complex projects.
However, further information, photos, pricing, and a release date for the Thunderberry5 remain undisclosed. Given the procurement cost of Qualcomm chips, affordability is unlikely. Raspberry Pi’s use of lower-performance chips is not due to a lack of options but rather a desire to maintain a low selling price. The Thunderberry5 may target makers with AI research needs, but it faces stiff competition from the powerful NVIDIA Jetson in this domain.
