Raspberry Pi have announced a 10.1-inch version of the Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2, and there’s a fair bit going on here beyond the extra inches. We’re getting a 1200 x 1920 IPS panel, ten-finger touch, slimmer bezels, and an $80 price tag. There’s a catch though, I’m afraid, and it’s a big one if you’ve got a drawer full of older boards. It only works with the Raspberry Pi 5 and Compute Modules. Let’s get straight into it.
Table of Contents
Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2 10-inch Specifications
As the 7-inch model is the one most of you will have picked up (or at least eyed up), I’ve popped it alongside the new 10-inch variant below so we can see exactly what the extra $20 gets you.
| Touch Display 2 (7″) | Touch Display 2 (10″) | |
|---|---|---|
| Display Size | 7 inches | 10.1 inches |
| Resolution | 720 x 1280 pixels (portrait) | 1200 x 1920 pixels (native portrait) |
| Panel Type | TFT LCD | IPS TFT LCD |
| Touch Points | 5-finger | 10-finger |
| Size | 120.24mm x 189.32mm | 161.8mm x 247.3mm |
| Active Area | 86.94mm x 154.56mm | 135.4mm x 216.6mm |
| Viewing Angle | 85 degrees | 85 degrees |
| Backlight Brightness | 500 cd/m² | 400 cd/m² |
| Touch Response Time | 35ms typical, 40ms max | 35ms max |
| Surface Treatment | Anti-glare | Anti-glare |
| Compatibility | All Pis with a DSI port | Raspberry Pi 5 and Compute Modules only |
| List Price | $60 | $80 |
What’s Actually Changed?
Quite a lot, as it turns out, and reading through the spec sheet it’s hard to shake the feeling that someone in Cambridge went through the comments section of their own launch post with a notepad and a slightly bruised ego.
The headline change is the jump to a 1200 x 1920 native portrait panel. That’s proper Full HD territory (with square pixels still intact, for those of you who celebrated that particular detail last time), and it means this is the first official Raspberry Pi display where media playback and dashboard duty don’t feel like a bit of a compromise.
The move to an IPS panel might be the bigger deal in practice though. The 5-inch and 7-inch models use a standard TFT panel with viewing angles that are, let’s say, directionally challenged. Raspberry Pi’s Gordon Hollingworth admitted in the launch post comments that you’re really looking at around 50 degrees from the top and 70 degrees elsewhere, which put a few noses out of joint amongst those planning landscape projects. The 10-inch model quotes a symmetric 85 degrees all round, which is exactly what you want on something that’ll likely spend its life bolted to a wall being glanced at from odd angles.
Touch input gets its dignity back too. The original Touch Display supported 10-point touch, the Touch Display 2 dropped down to 5-point, and the 10-inch brings all ten fingers back to the party. A nice touch, and naturally, I refuse to apologise for that one.
Then we have the bezels, one of the loudest complaints about the smaller models. They’ve shrunk from roughly 16.7mm on the sides of the 7-inch down to around 13.2mm here, which works out to about a 20% trim and looks even better proportionally on the larger panel. For a bit of context, most current iPads hover around the 7-9mm mark, so whilst nobody’s going to mistake this for a flagship tablet, it’s a genuine step in the right direction rather than the chunky picture frame energy of the earlier models.
It’s not all “wins” though, I’m afraid. Backlight brightness actually drops from 500 cd/m² to 400 cd/m², which is worth knowing if your project lives somewhere bright. The quoted touch response time improves ever so slightly (35ms max versus the 7-inch’s 35ms typical and 40ms max), but I’d be amazed if anyone on this planet can feel that difference.
Raspberry Pi 5 and Compute Modules Only
Here’s the bit that’ll sting for many with older Pi 3 or Pi 4 boards sitting around waiting for a purpose. The 10-inch Touch Display 2 only works with the Raspberry Pi 5 and Raspberry Pi Compute Modules. The product brief doesn’t spell out why, but my assumption is that pushing 1200 x 1920 over DSI needs the four-lane connectors that the older boards simply don’t have. Happy to be corrected on that one if someone from Pi Towers wants to chime in.
When the 7-inch launched, my complaint was that my ever-growing pile of Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W boards couldn’t drive it thanks to their lack of a DSI connector. That hasn’t changed, but this time around even my recently un-retired Raspberry Pi 4 is out of the picture, along with everything else that came before the Pi 5. If you were hoping to give an older board a second life as a kitchen dashboard, this isn’t the display for it, and the 5-inch and 7-inch models remain your options there.
One more small thing to watch if you’re on the Compute Module side of the fence: the box only includes a mini-mini ribbon cable. That’s spot on for the Pi 5’s mini DSI connector, but if your carrier board uses a standard-size DSI connector, you’ll want to grab a standard-mini cable before assembly day rolls around.
How Do You Connect It?
Wondering if the setup has changed? The good news is that it hasn’t, and I mean that as a compliment. It’s still just two connections, a power cable from the display to the GPIO pins, and a ribbon cable to the DSI port (shut your Pi down and unplug it before connecting anything, as always). Alongside the display itself you get the power cable, the mini-mini ribbon cable, and eight M2.5 mounting screws in the box for good measure.
As I alluded to earlier, Raspberry Pi OS ships with the touchscreen drivers and an on-screen keyboard out of the box, now with full ten-finger support on this model, so a standalone touch-only build (hello, Home Assistant wall panel) needs no keyboard or mouse at all. I’ll cover the physical assembly properly when I get my hands on one.
Cases, Stands, and Mounting
Like its smaller siblings, the 10-inch model ships without any kind of stand, so it’s back to the 3D printer for now. I’d honestly be surprised if Raspberry Pi ever bundled one in the box, but a simple plastic stand as an official accessory feels like a bit of an easy win they could consider. In the meantime, I’d fully expect Pimoroni and the rest of the usual accessory crowd to have cases and stands out fairly quickly, as they always do.
Also worth repeating from last time is that the dimensions and mounting layout are new, so nothing designed for the 5-inch or 7-inch Touch Display 2 (or the original Touch Display, if yours is still soldiering on) will carry over. If you’ve built or bought an enclosure for a smaller model, you’re starting from scratch here, I’m afraid.
How About Pricing and Availability?
The list price is $80, which slots neatly into the $40 / $60 / $80 ladder alongside the 5-inch and 7-inch models. For a 10.1-inch IPS touch panel with official driver support and guaranteed production until at least January 2030, that’s honestly decent value when you look at the third-party DSI and HDMI touchscreens floating around at similar money, and your mileage with those on the driver front can vary wildly.
As usual, you’ll find local resellers via the official product page, and as usual, expect some regions to take a little longer than others to actually show stock. As this is a Chinese-made product too, don’t be shocked if you see it retailing above $80 USD on US-based stores. That’ll be the tariffs at work, I’m afraid.
Rounding Things Off
On the whole, this feels like Raspberry Pi actually listening. A 10-inch model, an IPS panel, ten-point touch, and smaller bezels were all things people asked for (loudly) when the Touch Display 2 launched, and every one of them gets ticked off here. The trade-offs are a slightly dimmer backlight and a compatibility list that leaves every pre-Pi 5 board behind, and for a lot of people that second one will settle the matter before the spec sheet even gets a look-in.
For Pi 5 owners though, this is the first official display that makes a smart home panel or info dashboard feel properly doable without squinting at 720p. I’ll likely put mine to use for a control centre for the test bench in the office, and I’ll show that off when the time comes. In the meantime, if there’s something specific you’d like to check or know, do let me know in the comments. I promise to read them, and possibly act on them, unless they’re mean. Then I won’t.
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