⚖ Comparison : Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ (2018) — Board Sheet vs Raspberry Pi 3 Model B (model-3b)
Comparison of declared technical characteristics : Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ (2018) — Board Sheet et Raspberry Pi 3 Model B (model-3b) (14 characteristics). See the full board sheet : Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ (2018) — Board Sheet · Raspberry Pi 3 Model B (model-3b).
| Characteristics | Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ (2018) — Board Sheet | Raspberry Pi 3 Model B (model-3b) |
|---|---|---|
soc | Broadcom BCM2837B0 — 4× ARM Cortex-A53 (ARMv8-A, 64-bit capable) @ 1.4 GHz. (product brief; Wikipedia spec table) | Broadcom BCM2837 (early boards) or BCM2837B0 (from Jan 2019, PCN RPI-PCN-Pi3B-001). (BCM2837 doc, retrieved 2026-10-13) |
gpu | VideoCore IV (Pi 3 family) — OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0, H.264 & MPEG-4 decode 1080p30, H.264 encode 1080p30 (multimedia line quoted from the brief; VideoCore IV identification via Wikipedia). | VideoCore IV at 400 MHz (32-bit). (BCM2837B0 doc; fr.Wikipedia) |
ram | 512 MB LPDDR2, shared CPU/GPU. (product brief) | 1 gb |
storage | microSD (OS + data); no onboard storage. | microSD card slot (no eMMC option on the board itself). |
connectivity | 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz IEEE 802.11b/g/n/ac WLAN (modular/compliance-certified radio module, FCC-modular per launch post) + Bluetooth 4.2/BLE; 1× USB 2.0 port; no Ethernet. (product brief; launch post; Ethernet absence per Wikipedia spec table) | - Wi-Fi: 2.4 GHz 802.11 b/g/n + Bluetooth 4.1 + BLE, on-board BCM43438 combo chip on SDIO/UART. Kernel device tree for the 3B declares compatible = "brcm,bcm43438-bt" (bcm271x-rpi-bt.dtsi); BT 4.1 per fr.Wikipedia. Dual-band Wi-Fi only arrived with the 3B+ (official 3B+ announcement, linked from official docs). - Ethernet: 10/100 Mbit RJ45 via SMSC/LAN9514 USB 2.0 hub+NIC (device tree include bcm283x-rpi-smsc9514.dtsi), i.e. Ethernet shares the USB 2.0 bus with the 4 USB ports. (bcm2710-rpi-3-b.dts) - USB: 4 × USB 2.0 (behind the LAN9514 hub). |
video_audio_i_o | full-size HDMI; MIPI DSI display port; MIPI CSI camera port; 4-pole 3.5 mm jack with stereo audio and composite video. (product brief) | — |
gpio | extended 40-pin header (family-standard J8 pinout): 3.3 V/5 V rails, I²C, SPI, UART, hardware PWM; 3.3 V logic only, no ADC/DAC. (pinout.xyz, canonical pin reference) | 40-pin header, 2.54 mm pitch; logic is 3.3 V only (5 V is NOT tolerant on GPIO pins); 2 × 5 V, 2 × 3.3 V, GND pins. Hardware PWM on GPIO12/13/18/19 (software PWM on all pins); SPI0 (GPIO7–11), SPI1/aux SPI (GPIO16–21); I²C0/1; UART0 (GPIO14/15) + mini-UART; no ADC and no DAC on any Raspberry Pi SoC. (GPIO on Raspberry Pi — official docs, retrieved 2026-10-13) |
power | 5 V / 2.5 A DC via micro-USB connector, or 5 V DC via GPIO header (embedded feeding); the micro-USB port also carries USB OTG, so the board supports USB gadget mode (virtual keyboard / network adapter / serial device when plugged into a PC). (product brief; Wikipedia, "Special-purpose features", citing forum thread) | 5 V via micro-USB (power-only socket; no OTG/gadget). Official recommendation: 2.5 A PSU; maximum total USB peripheral draw 1.2 A; typical bare-board active current 400 mA (≈ 2 W). Undervoltage detection triggers below 4.63 V ±5% (rainbow/underline warning + log entry). (Power supplies — official docs, retrieved 2026-10-13) |
temperature | operating 0–50 °C per the brief. | — |
mechanical | 65 × 56 mm, "same mechanical footprint as Raspberry Pi 1 Model A+" (dimensions from the brief's mechanical drawing). (product brief) | 85.60 × 53.98 × 17 mm, ≈ 45 g. (fr.Wikipedia, retrieved 2026-10-13) |
cpu | — | quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 (Armv8, 64-bit) at 1.2 GHz — "about 50% faster than the Raspberry Pi 2". The B0 die is capable of 1.4 GHz, but the 3B is clocked at 1.2 GHz. (official BCM2837/BCM2837B0 pages, above) |
video_audio | — | full-size HDMI, composite video + analog audio on the 4-pole 3.5 mm jack. |
camera_display | — | 15-pin CSI-2 camera connector, 15-pin DSI display connector. |
thermal | — | Arm cores progressively throttled between 80 °C and 85 °C; at 85 °C both Arm cores and GPU are hard-throttled. (No soft limit — that arrived with the 3B+.) (Frequency management — official docs, retrieved 2026-10-13) |
Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ (2018) — Board Sheet Raspberry Pi 3 Model B (model-3b)