When stocks of the old Pico 2’s (using RP2350A2/A3 as below) have diminished….
They’ll be using the new A4 stepping….This brings 5V tolerance on all pins. Security fixes. GPIO pull down resistor issue fixed etc.
There is also a new RRP2354A and RP2354B with internal flash !, yet beyond my logic it’s only 2Mb compared to the 4Mb added to current Pico 2’s !?.
Shame they didn’t improve it further….
None of this is new.
All RP2350’s are 5v tolerant (not just the new stepping.)
They fixed what they could through just metal layer changes.
only 2Mb compared to the 4Mb added to current Pico 2’s !?.
There’s a big difference between cramming a flash chip inside the package and having a completely separate package. And there really isn’t a compelling commercial reason to put more than 2M in there anyway.
Shame they didn’t improve it further….
Should they have bought you a pony too? 
None of this is new.
All RP2350’s are 5v tolerant (not just the new stepping.)
Incorrect. The previous stepping were rated for 5V absolute max, but were not officially qualified to be tolerant of 5V. Now they are. This has implications for longevity of components.
You started that so confidently, but didn’t actually check the primary source.
The new stepping only changed the metal layers, which has no effect on the voltage rating of the part. All they did was the testing to guarantee that the new rating was valid, and they have explicitly stated that it covers the entire RP2350 line.
Do you have that link? I’d like to understand it better.
The original announcement had all the details: https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/rp2350-a4-rp2354-and-a-new-hacking-challenge/
As for explicitly stating that all RP2350’s are 5v tolerant: New RP235X silicon released - Page 3 - Raspberry Pi Forums
But the original link clearly states that “RP2350 is now 5v tolerant” (i.e, every RP2350, no qualifications and certainly no mention of it being restricted to the A4 stepping.)
