In brief: Another day, another accessory from the Raspberry Pi team. This time around, enthusiasts are getting a branded hub to expand the number of USB ports on tap for peripheral expansion. And in traditional Pi fashion, it won't break the bank.
Founder Eben Upton said the team decided to build their own USB hub after becoming frustrated with the quality and price of hubs currently on the market. According to Upton, you either have to pay a lot of money for a well-designed and reliable product that is compatible with a range of devices, or spend significantly less for something that comes up short in terms of compatibility, aesthetics, and / or reliability.
Fed up with the race to the bottom, Upton and company worked with Infineon on a solution. The resulting product, the Raspberry Pi USB 3 Hub, is based on the Infineon CYUSB3304 controller. It features a single USB 3.0 Type-A connector on an 8cm cable that outputs to four downstream USB 3.0 Type-A connectors, with aggregate data transfer speeds up to 5 Gbps. It turns one USB port into four.
There is also a USB-C port for an optional, external power supply (5V at 3A, sold separately) to help run high-power peripherals; no external power is required for lower-power accessories.
The team leveraged their expertise in manufacturing and distribution to drive the price down as much as possible while maintaining quality. Upton claims the Pi-branded hub works perfectly with all Pi computer models (and probably on any computer, for that matter).
The USB hub is the latest in a string of new Pi products, including branded NVMe M.2 SSDs, a second generation touch-enabled display, and an AI HAT+ with 13 or 26 TOPS of performance.
Interested parties can pick up a Raspberry Pi USB 3 Hub from one of several approved resellers for $12. Notably, Raspberry Pi said the hub will remain in production until at least January 2030 meaning support for the foreseeable future should not be an issue.