Raspberry Pi Gives its Tiny Touch Display a Big Upgrade

Raspberry Pi has announced a new version of its 7-inch ‘Touch Display’ accessory.

And given that the previous model was announced 9 years ago, some kind of update was arguably due for this device.

The Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2 runs at a higher-resolution display than its predecessor, and uses a slimmer form factor now that the display driver board is integrated into the enclosure itself, streamlining the end setup.

Yet despite those upgrades, the price point hasn’t changed: it still costs $60/£56

No details on the brightness, contrast, etc for the new model, and it’s notably described as offering 5 points of multi-touch whereas the original model supports 10-points of multi-touch (who’s using a touchscreen with 10 fingers anyway?!).

But the fact the 7-inch TFT display now runs at a resolution of 720×1280 pixels (up from 800×480) is an appreciable leap if running modern software,

Like the original, the Touch Display 2 is powered by the Raspberry Pi itself (connects via GPIO pins), and the display connections to the onboard DSI port (included on all Pi models bar the Zero).

The new model is described as a “portrait orientation” touch display but it can be used horizontally by adjusting rotation in the OS > Display settings (most Linux distros will default to using it vertically).

Who’s the Touch Display 2 For?

As this blog is mainly (depending the weather, eh) focused on desktop Linux, when I write about the Raspberry Pi it tends to be from the POV of using it as such, i.e., using doing desktop-y things in Ubuntu for Raspberry Pi.

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The Touch Display 2 certainly wouldn’t cut it as a full-time PC monitor, but for interactive projects, infotainment systems, smart hubs/display, and similar – i.e., its intended audience.

Larger and cheaper touch-enabled monitors are out there, but they might need a separate power supply, a HDMI cable, and USB cable to support touch-enabled functionality (if Linux supports it).

While the Touch Display 2 offers a tidy, streamlined solution easily integrated into a fixed setting/shop display with less “wire spaghetti” to go wrong.

Raspberry Pi is on a roll with its product announcements lately, and they just keep coming. The latest is an updated version of their touch-enabled display that makes it simple to use a Pi for novel touch-based interaction experiences.

More details on the product page, which has links to buy it from approved resellers.