Competition seems to drive the technology. First the Raspberry Pi 0 come out with Wifi and Bluetooth - making the R-Pi 0W. Shenzhen Xunlong (makers of the Orange Pi) just released the Orange Pi Zero Plus 2 and wants to sell it at $18. The Orange Pi 0 (512MB version) is $10 less, so what could it have to increase the price so high?
Simple: HDMI Video and 8GB of FlashRAM memory in the same size tiny board. This, on top of the 512MB board. It's not out on the market yet (AliExpress sells them first and they do not have it, yet, give them 2 weeks from now for it to be on their shelves). To make the HDMI Video work, they removed the Ethernet Port and the board's only USB (full) Port, leaving 1 USB-OTG port on the board. If you need a full USB Ports, you to add an expansion board onto it.
The 8GB Flash is great in that you do not need to need an SD Card to boot it (Like the BeagleBone Black, BUT changes are you will need an SD Card with an OS to set it up and install an OS to the FlashRAM. At least the BeagleBone Black came with an OS in their FlashRAM and can boot it up out of the box and you can update or change the OS with an SD card on it later.)
It is odd that for these two features and taking away Ethernet and the full USB Port that they would charge so much for it. OS Support for the O-Pi Zero (and the other O-Pi boards) are not the best supported by their maker - Shenzhen Xunlong. And compatibility might be an issue as the O-Pi 0 (with the expansion board) supports Composite Video and not HDMI, but the O-Pi 0 + 2 has it, needing more video drivers for it in the OS. And the Ethernet Drivers would have to be configurable on Boot as the O-Pi 0 has it and the O-Pi 0 + 2 does not; both does have blue tooth and Wifi. That means that the O-Pi can be made to physically bridge wired and wireless network connections and the O-Pi 0 + 2 can not.
The issue here is that for Under $20, there are other O-Pi boards that has HDMI Video and other components; while under $35 O-Pies have 8GB of FlashRAM and 1GB of RAM. Makes you wonder what are they trying to do here.
Is it worth is? As I see it. No. It's a good board to have and try out but not something to invest money into. Unless you need something that fits the O-Pi 0 foot print and must have HDMI video and not use an SD Card, then it might be doable. The O-Pi 0 (512MB version) is $8, and the Expansion board that gives you composite video is $4, so for $12 you got a full system you can directly connect to a network. If they updated the RAM to 1GB, then I would say it is worth it.
We will have to see when it is released into market and see what it will be sold at. Until then all I got is this link:
$18.9 Orange Pi Zero Plus 2 Board: Allwinner H3, WiFi + Bluetooth LE, HDMI and 8GB eMMC Flash