Banana-Pi, a company specializing in router motherboards, has unveiled its Banana Pi BPI-R4 featuring WiFi 7 and 5G support.
Banana Pi BPI-R4 Includes a Much Larger Support For Connections, With WiFi 7 & 5G Capabilities
Coming into the specifications, the BPI-R4 is powered by a MediaTek MT7988A chip which features four ARM Cortex-A73 cores onboard. The cores are clocked at a frequency of 1.8 GHz. By the looks of it, the board is specifically designed for appliances in the networking and home automation industry.
| Hardware Specification of Banana-Pi BPI-R4 | |||
| CPU | MediaTek MT7988A (Filogic 880) quad-core Arm Corex-A73,1.8GHz processor | ||
| SDRAM | 4 GB DDR4 | ||
| On board Storage | MicroSD \(TF\) card,8GB eMMC onboard | ||
| GPIO | 26 Pin GPIO, some of which can be used for specific functions including UART, I2C, SPI, PWM, I2S. | ||
| On board Network | 4 Port 10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet | ||
| SFP | 2x10G SFP or 1x10G SFP and 1x 2.5GbE | ||
| Wifi | Wifi6/Wifi 7 | ||
| mini PCIE | 2x mini-PCIe slots with PCIe3.0 2lane interface for Wi-Fi 7 NIC (Network Interface Card) | ||
| M.2 interface | 1x M.2 KEY-B slot with USB3.2 interface for 5G,1x M.2 KEY-M slot with PCIe3.0 1lane interface for NVME SSD | ||
| USB | 1xUSB 3.2 slot | ||
| Buttons | Reset button,WPS button, boot switch | ||
| Leds | Power status Led and RJ45 Led | ||
| DC Power | 12V/5.2A or 19V 3.2A | ||
| Sizes | 100.5x148mm s | ||
| Weight | 250g | ||
The Banana Pi BPI-R4 has several features making it the best option for several applications. It comes with two 10Gbe and 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports making it a suitable option for those looking at a DIY router. Moreover, the BPI-R4 features support WiFi 7 and 5G connections hence using it as a networking option for your workplace is a great choice.
The exciting feature of this router board is the integration of GPIO, which enables the board to be used for home automation purposes. It provides input for your sensors, expanding its applications to controlling all sensor-based equipment.
Moreover, the board also includes a USB 3.2 port and an M.2 slot that can support an NVMe SSD. 2 mini PCIe slots support PCIe 3.0 dual-channel, which may help you expand WiFi 7 support. The BPI-R4 also features three nano SIM slots with support for several carriers, allowing the router board to be used for several user applications.
Banana Pi is expected to launch the BPI-R4 board by Q1 of 2024. Official pricing of the board is yet to be disclosed.
About the author: Muhammad Zuhair is a hardware and technology reporter for Wccftech, specializing in the semiconductor industry and the complex interplay between technology, manufacturing, and geopolitics. His coverage focuses on the corporate strategies and technological roadmaps of industry giants like TSMC, NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel. Zuhair's expertise lies in deconstructing complex topics such as fabrication nodes (e.g., 2nm process), the economic impact of policies like the CHIPS Act, and the strategic development of AI infrastructure from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.
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