Not everything we do is about profit (remember that massive wad of cash that went to the Foundation as proceeds of the IPO float?).I didn't expected Raspberry Pi branded USB Flash Drives / Memory sticks because I didn't think there would be much profit to be had in those but here they are.In terms of accessories and partner product where there's a quick buck to be made by slapping a Raspberry Pi logo on an OEM product I don't see much left that they haven't already done. A DC-input PSU, UPS, and battery pack, are the only things I can think of.
There was a gap in our OS/root filesystem/primary storage offerings for Pi >=3 and <(and possibly =)5 where a performant USB flash device would be simultaneously faster than SD in all respects and better than the commodity alternatives that plugged into the same socket.
I spent the best part of 9 months a) evaluating the current retail state of the art [1] and b) wailing on various generally-available ODM offerings until they broke. Unless your name began with S and ended with disk, or S and sung, they were invariably... bad.
My favourite teardown in this escapade was finding 2 LEDs mounted on the PCB of a flash drive that came inside an aluminium enclosure, so they were never going to be seen. Said LEDs were wired to the two separate controller chips on the PCB - one was a USB to SATA bridge, and the other was a SATA to flash controller. The thing was covered in power supply ICs for the various voltages that each one needed. It got HOT.
Oh and one sample I tested had a ridiculously oversize aluminium enclosure reminiscent of a fidget spinner with flappy bits on each end. With mediocre actual storage. At best, I can assume that this was an attempt to do an end-run around the US aluminium import tariffs.
Fill yer boots.
[1] Slow, cheap, gimmicky, fake - pick 2
Statistics: Posted by jdb — Thu Jan 22, 2026 9:03 pm