Banana Pi has released the BPI-R4 Pro, a WiFi 7-capable router board available in two configurations that differ primarily in their networking capabilities. The 8X variant features dual 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports for LAN and WAN alongside 8 GB DDR4 RAM, while the more affordable 4E model steps down to 2.5 Gigabit ports and 4 GB of memory. Both versions run OpenWrt 24.10 out of the box and build on the foundation of the original BPI-R4 that launched in November 2023.
At the heart of both variants sits a MediaTek MT7988A chipset (Filogic 880) with four ARM Cortex-A73 cores running at 1.8 GHz. The processor enables tri-band WiFi 7 connectivity across 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands with PHY rates up to 13.7 Gbps. Storage comes in the form of 8 GB eMMC flash plus a microSD card reader, while expansion options include multiple M.2 slots for both B-Key and M-Key modules. This allows users to add 4G or 5G cellular modems, NVMe SSDs, or additional WiFi cards depending on their networking needs.
Linux enthusiasts will find support for Debian 12 and MediaTek's OpenWrt branch already working on the BPI-R4 Pro, though mainline OpenWrt support is still under active development with full upstream integration expected later this year. One notable limitation is that MediaTek's WiFi 7 drivers remain proprietary, requiring users to rely on vendor firmware images rather than fully open source alternatives like the MT76 driver which currently supports only older WiFi standards on this chipset.
The board includes a USB 3.2 port, three nano SIM slots for cellular connectivity, and a 26-pin GPIO header supporting UART, I2C, SPI, PWM, and I2S protocols. Banana Pi is selling the BPI-R4 Pro 8X variant directly for $218 (€201), though the board is also available through third-party retailers. An optional aluminum case can be purchased separately for users looking to build a more finished networking appliance.
