At first glance, the LeMaker HiKey 960 looks a lot like a Raspberry Pi. Both are single-board computers with ARM-based processors, a handful of ports and developer-friendly connectors.

But while the Raspberry Pi 3 sells for about $35, the new HiKey 960 is priced at $240. So what makes this little computer worth nearly 9 times as much? It’s got the same processor as a Huawei Mate 9 smartphone, but in a desktop-style package.

The HiKey 960 is basically aimed at Android app developers that want to create and test applications on a speedy ARM-based system. But it could probably be used for a wide range of applications if you want one of the most powerful ARM-based mini PCs around.

The system features a Kirin 960 octa-core chip with 4 ARM Cortex-A73 CPU cores, 4 ARM Cortex-A53 CPU cores, and Mali-G71 MP8 graphics.

It has 3GB of LPDDR4 memory, 32GB of UFS 2.1 flash storage and a microSD card slot, an HDMI port, two USB 3.0 ports, a USB 2.0 Type-C port, 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.1, a 60-pin connector and 40-pin connector.

The whole thing measures just 85mm x 55mm (3.34″ x 2.17″) which means it’s about the same size as a Raspberry Pi 3.

via PC World

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,546 other subscribers

5 replies on “Hkey 960 is a $240 Android dev board/computer with Kirin 960”

  1. at last! decent power in the chipset coupled with a decent amount of memory but oh dear the price!

    1. Brad’s text didn’t mention it but there appears to be a connection for an SSD storage device on the underside of the board. If that’s what it’s there that’s a huge step up for these types of boards?

  2. I’m hoping that within 5 years raspberry pi could have this performance level for $40. Or at least an additional two a72 cores, ufs 2.1 and USB 3.0.

    1. Next update is rumored for 2019. I hope also there are will be some new horsepower and updated peripherials.

Comments are closed.