Adafruit QT Py ESP32-S3

Overview

The Adafruit QT Py ESP32-S3 brings the dual-core 240 MHz ESP32-S3 into the tiny 21.7 × 17.8 mm QT Py / Seeed XIAO footprint. With 8 MB of Flash and 512 KB of on-chip SRAM (no PSRAM in this variant), it is the most capable QT Py in terms of raw compute while remaining at roughly the same price as the single-core ESP32-S2 variant.

Native USB-C via the ESP32-S3's hardware USB OTG means the board can emulate keyboards, mice, MIDI controllers, and USB mass-storage drives without a bridge chip. The UF2 bootloader appears as a flash drive for drag-and-drop firmware updates. Both WiFi and BLE 5 are available simultaneously, a significant upgrade over the WiFi-only ESP32-S2 QT Py.

A STEMMA QT / Qwiic connector provides immediate I2C sensor chain capability. Ten 12-bit ADC inputs, 5 capacitive touch pins, hardware I2S, and PWM on any output give broad I/O coverage for the board's size. An NeoPixel RGB LED with its own power-control pin enables efficient low-power operation.

CircuitPython is the recommended starting point, with the extensive Adafruit CircuitPython library bundle providing drivers for the most popular sensors. Arduino (with Espressif's ESP32 Arduino core) and ESP-IDF are also supported for advanced users who need lower-level access to the ESP32-S3's rich peripheral set.