Raspberry Pi Pico 2 RP2350 Dual-Core Microcontroller Board

If you build your own test fixtures, programmer interfaces, or automation tools around your repair bench, the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 gives you a solid processing core to design around. It replaces the original RP2040-based Pico with the newer RP2350 chip, and the upgrade shows up everywhere that matters for custom hardware projects: more memory, faster cores, and a genuine choice of architecture on the same board.
At the center of the board sits the RP2350, built on a 40nm process. You get two Arm Cortex-M33 cores running up to 150MHz, and the chip also includes two open-hardware Hazard3 RISC-V cores on the same silicon. You choose which architecture to run at boot time, so the same board works whether your firmware stack is built around Arm tooling or you want to experiment with RISC-V for a custom programmer or jig controller. This flexibility matters if your workshop is standardizing internal tools across different firmware bases, since you're not locked into one instruction set.
Memory has doubled compared to the original Pico. You get 520KB of SRAM and 4MB of on-board flash, connected over QSPI. For a custom diagnostic tool, USB-to-serial bridge, or a small automation controller that reads sensor states and drives relays or LEDs across a test rig, that headroom means you can hold larger lookup tables, buffer more data, or run a more complete USB stack without running into memory limits partway through development.
Security is built into the silicon rather than bolted on afterward. The RP2350 includes Arm TrustZone, 8KB of antifuse OTP storage for key material, hardware SHA-256 acceleration, a hardware true random number generator, and glitch detection circuitry. If you're designing a tool that needs to protect firmware or authentication keys — for example, a custom programmer that shouldn't be easily cloned — these features are documented and available without restriction, which matters when you're integrating a chip into a tool you plan to keep using or even resell internally.
The board keeps the same physical layout and castellated-edge design as earlier Pico boards, so if you've already built jigs or carrier boards around the original Pico footprint, the Pico 2 drops in with backward hardware and software compatibility. GPIO access covers 26 multi-function pins, giving you enough I/O to interface with common peripherals: UART for serial communication with other bench equipment, SPI and I2C for sensors or displays, and PWM outputs for driving motors or fans in an automated test setup.
On the software side, you can develop in C/C++ using the official SDK, or in MicroPython/CircuitPython if you want faster iteration while prototyping a custom tool. Documentation from Raspberry Pi covers the chip in depth, which shortens the learning curve if you're building a one-off internal tool rather than a commercial product.
For a repair workshop, the practical use cases are straightforward: a custom continuity tester for board-level diagnostics, a low-cost logic analyzer front-end, a controller for an automated reflow or preheat station, or a bridge board that talks to existing programmer hardware over serial or USB. None of this requires soldering expertise beyond what most technicians already have on the bench, and the low unit cost means you can dedicate one board per fixture without worrying about reusing hardware across projects.
This is a general-purpose microcontroller board rather than a phone-specific tool, so it won't replace your ISP box, UFS programmer, or eMMC tool directly — but it gives you the building block to create the custom interfaces and test automation that sit around those tools on your bench.