Anyone know what causes price to drop on Arduinos, raspberry pi, adafruit, etc?
Did the stockmarket crashed on electronics or something?
what is it? Reinventing wheel or lack of experience in electronics.
Technology has continued to advance, allowing the same devices to be produced at a lower cost - this comes in the form of paying off design investments (such that economics and business needs allow them to lower their gross margin on mature products) as well as improvements in the manufacturing process (improved yields - and in some cases die shrinks) that drive down the prices of the components. This has been going on since the dawn of electronics.
Also, the chinese no-name manufacturers have stepped up their game, such that margins for manufacturing of some simple boards are almost non-existent - notice how you can get a clone pro mini for less than you could buy the components for. I think in these cases the product is being sold at near breakeven - they're just trying to keep the factory humming and the workers employed while hoping for more lucrative jobs (China: The Land of Overcapacity)
Note that that second sort of dirt cheapness vanishes the moment you step away from the ones that the chinese vendors have chosen to make and sell; there are lots of more expensive electronics, it's just the mass market basic stuff that is available for less than the cost (to us mere mortals) of the parts used to make it.
I think sales volume could be a factor. If there are only a few hundred potential customers in the world for your product then you can't benefit from economies of scale. As Arduino has become so popular, and even a lot of people who don't use the Arduino IDE or the Arduino libraries, buying these boards simply as a microcontroller breakout, large manufacturing runs have become feasible. Back in the days where it was just a small niche hobby market that was not possible and these Chinese manufacturers wouldn't consider making them.
DrAzzy:
Also, the chinese no-name manufacturers have stepped up their game, such that margins for manufacturing of some simple boards are almost non-existent - notice how you can get a clone pro mini for less than you could buy the components for.
Thing is, they are getting the components for much less than you could buy them for.
aarg:
Thing is, they are getting the components for much less than you could buy them for.
That's an apples/oranges comparison though. I look for the components that will meet the requirements. The cheap Chinese mfg's just order whatever costs the least
Where do you live.
Did you look at the value of the US$ against your currency.
It dropped here about 20% a few years ago.
Stocked up on parts back then.
If you live in the US, things are now slowly getting cheaper.
For the rest of the world, more expensive.
Leo..