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The ESP32-S3 SuperMini is the one in this family with real headroom. Two Xtensa LX7 cores at 240MHz, 2MB of PSRAM alongside the 4MB flash, and vector instructions built for TinyML and audio work, all on a 23.5 x 18mm USB-C board. It breaks out 35 GPIO, which is more than any other SuperMini we stock, though 20 of those sit on the underside rather than the castellated rails. B+ and B- pads underneath feed an onboard lithium charger, so a battery-powered build needs nothing but a cell.
ESP32-S3FH4R2 dual-core Xtensa LX7, up to 240MHz
2MB PSRAM and 4MB flash, both inside the chip package
128-bit vector instructions for TinyML, DSP and audio
35 GPIO broken out, 18 on the rails and 20 underneath
18 ADC channels and 14 capacitive touch channels
2.4GHz WiFi (802.11 b/g/n) and Bluetooth 5 LE
Native USB-C: serial console, JTAG and USB OTG for HID
Powered up and checked on the bench before it leaves us, then wiped back to blank so you get a clean board.
2×
2.54mm male header strips
Supplied loose, not fitted. They are ten-way against nine pads per rail, so snap one position off each or let the surplus overhang. Solder them straight, right-angle or low-profile to suit your build, or leave them off and reflow the board by its castellated edges.
Great for
Edge AI and TinyML inference
USB HID: keyboard, mouse, MIDI, gamepad
Camera and LCD projects that need PSRAM
I2S audio capture and playback
ESPHome and Home Assistant nodes
Battery powered WiFi sensors and loggers
Getting started: in the free Arduino IDE, install the Espressif esp32 board package and select ESP32S3 Dev Module first - USB CDC On Boot, USB Mode and PSRAM do not appear in the Tools menu until you have, which catches most people out. Then set USB CDC On Boot to Enabled so the Serial Monitor works, and PSRAM to QSPI PSRAM or the 2MB is never mapped. Plug in with a USB-C data cable. A brand new board often wants the BOOT hold before a port appears, which is normal: hold BOOT, tap RESET, release RESET, then release BOOT.
Good to know: Logic is 3.3V and the GPIO are not 5V tolerant. Do not power the 5V pad while USB-C is plugged in, and use only one source at a time. Two marks on the top face annotate LEDs rather than pads: 48 beside each LED and BAT beside the charge LED. The underside silkscreens the GPIO number of every pad, which is the quickest way to read this board.
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Y
Yanni M.
Awesome little bit of kit. Loving playing around with them.
ALso soundstanding service from NZN :)
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to the questions buyers ask most.
What does the S3 give me over the C3 SuperMini?
Roughly ten times the working room. The C3 is one RISC-V core at 160MHz with 400KB of SRAM and 13 GPIO. The S3 is two Xtensa LX7 cores at 240MHz with 512KB of SRAM plus 2MB of PSRAM, 35 GPIO, 18 ADC channels and 14 touch channels, and it adds USB OTG so it can act as a keyboard, mouse or MIDI device. Pick the C3 for a cheap sensor node, the S3 when you need memory, pins or processing.
Does this one actually have PSRAM?
Yes, 2MB. We check it on the bench rather than taking the paperwork's word for it: esptool reads the chip's own eFuses and reports 'ESP32-S3 (QFN56), Dual Core + LP Core, 240MHz, Embedded Flash 4MB, Embedded PSRAM 2MB'. Worth knowing because a lot of listings for this board, including the manufacturer's own, carry a spec block copied from the ESP32-C3 that says RISC-V single core, 160MHz and 400KB SRAM, and never mentions PSRAM at all. One catch on your side: PSRAM is disabled by default in the Arduino board menu. Set Tools then PSRAM to QSPI PSRAM, or ESP.getPsramSize() returns zero.
How many pins does it really have, and where are they?
35 GPIO. Eighteen are castellated pads on the edges, nine per rail: 5V, GND, 3V3, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8 down one side and TX, RX, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 down the other. The other twenty are numbered solder pads on the underside: 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 on one half and 39, 40, 41, 42, 45, 46, 47, 48 on the other, plus the B+ and B- battery pads and the BOOST jumper.
Can I get at the underside pads on a breadboard?
Not while the board is seated flat, no. They are covered. If you need them, mount the board on headers with clearance underneath, use a socket, or reflow it onto a carrier that routes them out. Worth planning before you commit to a pinout, because that is twenty of the thirty-five GPIO.
Can it act as a USB keyboard or mouse?
Yes. The S3 has full-speed USB OTG as well as the USB Serial/JTAG console, so it can present as a HID keyboard, mouse, gamepad, MIDI device or mass storage. The USB data lines are GPIO19 and GPIO20, which are wired to the USB-C connector and not brought out to a pad, so you cannot break the console by accident.
Can I run it from a battery?
Yes. Two round solder pads marked B+ and B- sit on the underside beneath the USB-C connector, feeding an onboard single-cell lithium charger. Solder a 3.7V Li-ion or LiPo cell to them and it charges whenever USB-C is connected. Charge current is 100mA as shipped, or 300mA if you bridge the BOOST jumper, which the manufacturer says is only for cells of 500mAh or larger. Use a protected cell and do not leave a charging board unattended.
Which pins should I keep clear at boot?
GPIO3 on the left rail, and GPIO45 and GPIO46 on the underside. GPIO45 is the important one: it selects the supply voltage for the in-package flash and PSRAM, so holding it at the wrong level through reset stops the board booting at all and looks exactly like a dead board. Never fit a pull-up, an LED to 3V3 or an idle-high bus signal on GPIO45. GPIO0 is the BOOT button and has no pad.
Where is the LED and why does blink do nothing?
There is no plain user LED you can toggle on its own. A WS2812 RGB LED and a small discrete LED both sit on GPIO48, so they cannot be driven independently, and a stock blink sketch will not behave the way you expect. The manufacturer states this outright: 'Onboard RGB, Blue LED: Common GPIO 48 pin'. Use a NeoPixel library such as Adafruit NeoPixel or FastLED on pin 48. There is also a charge-status LED marked BAT, which has no GPIO control.
I cannot find USB CDC On Boot in the Arduino Tools menu
Select the board first. USB CDC On Boot, USB Mode, PSRAM and Flash Size are board-specific entries, so they do not exist in the Tools menu until you set Tools then Board to ESP32S3 Dev Module. Going looking for them beforehand is a dead end and it is the most common first-run stumble on this board. Take care not to pick plain 'ESP32 Dev Module' either, which sits right beside it in the list and has no native USB, so it never shows those options.
Are the header pins fitted?
No. Two 2.54mm male header strips come loose in the bag. They are ten-way against nine pads per rail, so snap one position off each or let the extra pin overhang. You can also skip them and reflow the board onto a carrier by its castellated edges, or solder wires straight to the pads.
Does it need a driver?
No. The chip drives USB itself and enumerates as a native USB Serial/JTAG device, so Windows, macOS and Linux all see it with the driver already in the operating system. There is no CH340 or CP2102 on this board. Use a USB-C data cable, not a charge-only one.
Which board do I select in the Arduino IDE?
Install the Espressif esp32 board package, then choose ESP32S3 Dev Module before anything else, because the rest of the settings only appear once it is selected. Then set USB CDC On Boot to Enabled or the Serial Monitor stays blank, and PSRAM to QSPI PSRAM so the 2MB is actually mapped. Flash size 4MB, flash mode QIO 80MHz. For ESPHome use the esp32 platform with variant esp32s3; for PlatformIO the board ID is esp32-s3-devkitc-1.
How do I put it into download mode?
Hold BOOT, tap RESET, release RESET, then release BOOT. Expect to need this on the very first connection of a new board, which is normal rather than a fault, and any time a running sketch stops the port appearing. If it still will not show up, try a second USB-C cable first, then run esptool erase-flash from download mode to clear firmware that crashes early.
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