When ArmSoM first said they were planning a Raspberry Pi Zero-sized board built around the Rockchip RK3572, all we really had was a fairly long post about the chip and a line saying a board was on the way. We now have a name, a target size and a concept layout to go with it, so the ArmSoM Zero5 is starting to look like an actual board. Let’s get to it.
Table of Contents
What’s on the Zero5?
ArmSoM are calling this a concept preview, and the image comes with a “proposed layout only, not to scale, interfaces subject to validation” disclaimer, so things may well change before it ships. With that in mind, here’s what they’ve shared so far:
| ArmSoM Zero5 | Concept Specification |
|---|---|
| SoC | Rockchip RK3572 |
| Size | 65 x 30mm (target) |
| USB | 2x USB-C (1 being power input) |
| Display | Mini HDMI, MIPI DSI |
| Camera | MIPI CSI (second CSI connector optional) |
| Expansion | PCIe/SATA via FPC connector, 40-pin GPIO |
| Storage | microSD, optional eMMC, optional UFS |
| Wireless | Wi-Fi/Bluetooth |
| RAM | TBC |
65 x 30mm is the same footprint as the Raspberry Pi Zero, and the dual USB-C and Mini HDMI layout feels like a modern take on the Zero’s dual micro USB setup (I’d assume one for power and one for data, but that’s not confirmed). The name fits ArmSoM’s naming rule too, with odd numbers for Rockchip boards and even numbers for Allwinner, which I touched on when I covered the Sige6.
PCIe on a Zero?
This is the bit I’m more interested in. When the Raspberry Pi Zero 3 W device tree turned up, I said I’d love to see PCIe exposed on a Zero but wasn’t holding my breath, and here it is on the back of the board as an FPC connector, much like the one on the Raspberry Pi 5. The RK3572’s PCIe 2.1 and SATA share combo lanes, so I’d expect it to be one or the other, but an NVMe drive or SATA SSD on a Zero-sized board is a lovely option to have, though really, we’re all hoping it’s NVMe with the same PCIe FPC pinout available on a teeny NVMe HAT, right?
The storage options look good as well, with optional eMMC and UFS sitting alongside microSD. I don’t know if they’re just going to have a wild number of SKUs with multiple
A Quick Refresher on the RK3572
The RK3572 comes with 2x Cortex-A73 and 6x Cortex-A53 cores, a Mali-G310 GPU and a 4 TOPS NPU (ArmSoM describe the Zero5 as being for “compact Linux and edge AI projects”, so expect to hear a fair bit about that NPU, though actual use-cases/support may be interesting). sbcwiki lists it at up to 2.2GHz based on module specs, with datasheet clocks still to be confirmed. It supports LPDDR4/4X and LPDDR5/5X memory, and the RAM block on the concept image is unlabelled, so we don’t know for sure which ArmSoM are going with based on that alone, but they did say it supports LPDDR5 in their original post, sooo?
The Zero5 won’t have this space to itself. The Raspberry Pi Zero 3 W that turned up in the kernel tree looks set to bring the Pi 4’s quad-core Cortex-A72 BCM2711 to the Zero range as a step up from the Zero 2 W, though we’re yet to see its final form. I’ve also tested the Orange Pi Zero 3W (not to be confused with the Raspberry Pi Zero 3 W, because that wouldn’t be confusing at all and it definitely wasn’t done on purpose) and the Radxa Cubie A7Z, which both use the Allwinner A733 with the same 2+6 layout but newer Cortex-A76 and A55 cores. You can see how those two compare if you’re curious (do bear in mind it’s 1GB of RAM on the Cubie versus 4GB on the Orange Pi). That gives the RK3572 some work to do on the CPU side, though I won’t draw any conclusions until I’ve got one on the bench.
What We Still Don’t Know
Pricing
This is the big one for me. ArmSoM tend to sit a bit above the likes of Radxa and Orange Pi on price, which is understandable for a smaller outfit. Which memory they choose, and how much of it, will have a big say in where it lands.
Release date
There’s still no date. ArmSoM said earlier this year that they planned two new products for 2026 ahead of the RK3688, with the Sige6 being one of them. The others were the CM7s and Sige7s, so I don’t expect to see a Zero5 well into next year. If it’s here by Q2 2027 I’d be very surprised.
Cooling
The RK3572 sits on the front of the board with nothing much around it, but there’s no word on a heatsink or fan option yet. Rockchip quote 670mW for 1080p video playback, but they measured that on a tablet with its display removed and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth turned off, so it doesn’t tell us a lot about a full board under sustained load. For some context, the uncooled RK3566 on the Geniatech XPI-3566-Zero hit 81 degrees Celsius after 30 seconds and spent the rest of my test throttled down to 1416MHz. The 8nm process should help, but I’d like to see a heatsink option at launch, or at the very least, make it so that it’s compatible with the plethora of Pi Zero cases available, but with the differing I/O available, that may not be entirely possible.
Compatibility and software
ArmSoM’s original post was clear that the form factor “does not establish Raspberry Pi pin, enclosure, accessory or OS-image compatibility”, so whilst the 40-pin header and Zero footprint are promising, I wouldn’t assume your existing cases and pHATs will fit until we see a pinout and some mechanical drawings. There’s no OS list yet either, but ArmSoM tend to stick to Ubuntu and Debian builds, with Armbian often being available after initial launches.
Thoughts
This is a lot more like it. A Zero-sized board with PCIe/SATA, DSI, CSI and UFS options is a genuinely interesting loadout, and it’s the kind of thing I was hoping ArmSoM would go for. It’ll be interesting to see when it arrives, where they price it, and how it copes with the heat, as those three will decide whether it’s a Zero-sized board worth buying or just a nice-looking concept image.
I’ll update this post or write a follow-up as and when more drops. If you want a feel for ArmSoM’s hardware in the meantime, do check out my ArmSoM AIM7 review.
Related posts: Raspberry Pi Zero 3 W and Pi 4 Model A – ArmSoM Sige6: A Closer Look – Pi Zero Showdown
