I don't know, but this thread has some info

https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/egwo6z/was_th...

> > Hi all – I'm curious about the origin of the chip used in the Pi 4, the Broadcom BCM2711. Was it designed specifically for the Pi? I can't find any reference to it on the Broadcom website, which is strange, nor any record of its use in any other device, e.g. a smartphone.

> Sort of. The BCM2835 (Pi 1) was originally designed as a set top box SoC and was used in devices like the 1st gen Roku boxes. The BCM2836 (Pi 2), BCM2837 (Pi 3) and BCM2837B0 (Pi 3+) were designed for and only used by Pi boards. The BCM2711 was designed for and only used by the Pi 4 but it is closely related to a new BCM7211 which is for set top box usage.

I agree. I think the original assumption about "leftover volume/stock" only really applies to the RPi 1. However, if you talk more in terms of ARM ISA, then it certainly applies to every generation of the RPi in that the chosen ISAs are "leftover/last gen licenses" and are presumably less expensive to procure and produce chips from on older design processes. The ARM11/ARMv6 was new in 2001 while the ARMv6Z core in the RPi 1 was new in 2003 with the RPi 1 coming out in 2013. The ARMv8 ISA came out in 2011, with A72 coming out in 2015, while the RPi 4 came out in 2019. [0][1][2][3]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi#Specifications

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM11#Overview

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM11

[3] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_ARMv8-A_cores

The BCM2836 was also used in the second generation of the Roku Streaming Stick.

There arent any. OP is wrong in his assumption of piggybacking on mass volume manufacturing. Videocore was already widely regarded as a failed product at the time of first rpi release.