ESP32-S3 Boards

There are several boards available using the ESP32-S3 chip. Boards based on the ESP32-S3 variant offer a high performance dual core SoC with vector hardware acceleration and special display interfaces.

The ESP32-S3 variant of the ESP32 is supported by the espressif ESP32 Board package and by the Homeding library.

The Arduino ESP32 Board package supports the Arduino Nano ESP32 board only.

The ESP32-S3 is based on the Xtensa 32-bit LX7 single or dual-core processor that operates at up to 240 MHz.

It offers:

Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz, single band)
Bluetooth 5, LE and Mesh
CPU clock speed up to 240 MHz
Max 45 configurable GPIOs
512 KB static RAM
16 KB of static RTC RAM that keeps data as long as powered.
4 KBit of eFuse memory for special data like encryption keys
384 KB of ROM
integrated Touch sensors
SD/MMC interface
Camera interface
Various Display interfaces
USB and USB OTG interface
2 * I2C Interface
4 * SPI Interface
2 * I2S Interface
JTAG interface
PWM for LEDs
low-power-mode
crypro acceleration
Secure Boot
Flash encryption
Direct USB support.
integrated Flash Memory (option)
integrated PSRAM Memory (option)

This SoC is positioned as a high-power SoC MCU with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5 (LE) for general purpose devices. The built-in LCD interface allows fast display performance.

It is part of some modules that offer PCB antenna or antenna connectors.

The official Arduino Nano ESP32 is based on this processor using a custom Module from U-BLOX.

Flash and PSRAM Memory options

Some versions of the chip offer an internal 4 MByte Flash ROM and/or internal PSRAM.

USB and JTAG Support

The ESP32-S3 SoC directly supports USB and USB OTG ports and also has a built-in JTAG adapter for debugging. Some boards still come with a USB to Serial chip.

Using a board with a USB to Serial chip

When you find a USB to Serial converter on the board the configuration for the USB features in the ESP32-S3 SoC must look like:

USB Mode: Hardware CDC amd JTAG
USB CDC On Boot: Disabled
USB Firmware MSC on Boot: Disabled
USB DFU on Boot: Disabled
Upload Mode: UART0 / Hardware CDC

Using a board with direct USB connectivity (CDC mode)

These boards offer a USB connector that is connected to the GPIO19 (D-) and GPIO20 (D+). The configuration for the USB features in the ESP32-S3 SoC must look like:

USB Mode: Hardware CDC amd JTAG
USB CDC On Boot: Enabled
USB Firmware MSC on Boot: Disabled
USB DFU on Boot: Disabled
Upload Mode: UART0 / Hardware CDC

When you find a USB to Serial converter on the board the configuration for the USB features in the ESP32-S3 SoC must look like:

To use the USB port as Serial port the CDC on boot option must be enabled in the Arduino configuration.

Bluetooth LE

The ESP32-S3 supports Bluetooth LE , Bluetooth 5 and Bluetooth mesh.

Bluetooth support is not yet given by the HomeDing library.

Powersave modes

several sleep modes:

Modem-sleep mode
Light-sleep mode
Deep-sleep mode

Watchdog timer

Cryptographic Hardware Accelerators

Secure communication, signing packages and flash memory is supported by some built-in special functionality.

This results in faster secure (https) network requests.

Boards with ESP32-S3

Arduino Nano ESP32

This board is an official Arduino board with the ESP32-S3 chip

LilyGO T-Dongle S3

The LilyGO T-Dongle-S3 board has a USB stick layout including a TFT color display, a APA102 LED, a input button and SD card slot.

LilyGO T-Display-S3

The LilyGO T-Display-S3 board has an integrated TFT color display with optional capacitive touch and a USB-C type connector.

XIAO ESP32 S3

The XIAO ESP32 S3 is a thumb-size board with external antenna designed for low power consumption.

ESP32S3 SC01 Plus Panel

This touch display panel with a 320 * 480 LCD display based on a ESP32-S3 processor. This panel is supported by the [HomeDing BigDisplay Example].

Panel ESP32-8048S043C

This is a bare panel device based on a ESP32-S3 processor with 16M Flash and 8M PSRAM Memory in combination with a 800*480px 16 bit color display and touch controller. This panel is supported by the [HomeDing BigDisplay Example]

Panel ESP32-4848S040

This panel is a ready to used wall-mount device based on the ESP32-S3 processor supporting 16M Flash and 8M PSRAM Memory in combination with a 480px * 480px 16 bit color display and touch controller.