[adrian_b]

A few weeks ago they have reduced the price of the Orin Nano development kit from $500 to $250, while also increasing a few of the performance limits that cripple it in comparison with the more expensive Orin models.

Previously it was far too overpriced for most uses (except for someone developing a certified automotive device), but at the new price and performance it has become competitive with the existing alternatives in the same $150 to $300 price range, which are based on Intel, AMD, MediaTek, Qualcomm or Rockchip CPUs.

[bradfa]

When they reduced the price of the dev kit, they priced it below the low volume sales price of the cheapest Orin Nano 4GB module. Presumably the module prices go down when you buy in bulk but for small volumes it was (is still?) cheaper to buy the dev kit and throw away the carrier than to just buy the module. Granted the dev kits went out of stock pretty quick.