ESP32 price

[iwliwl]

Hi,

the ESP32 is sold so expensive now I must ask myself what's the use dealing with it.

The ESP8266 was small and cheap, the ESP seems to bee only small now.

Dev-Boards are more expensive then a raspberry pi, having a complete Unix System and debian software base I do can anything with and I'm familiar with for years.

The ESP is only a limited embedded system also not having the usual cpu.

For a few dollars ok, but not for multiple tens of.

[ESP_igrr]

If you are looking at esp32 from maker/hobbyist perspective, I can understand your position.

But please don't make conclusions about the chip price based on dev board prices, if you are looking at potential commercial applications. You can get quotes from Espressif sales, or at the very least do a quick search on any Chinese component reseller website (such as szlcsc.com).

[MickJagger]

ESP32 is still the cheapest chip that you could imagine with BT / WIFI integrated

[jan toro]

As a business man, I think you are making a huge mistake.

It is a classical business mistake to get your head "spinning" after the success of esp8266, but making ESP32 so much expensive will
limit to minimum the prospects of this device.

Sadlly if you do not consider my opinion, the financial results will be reflected in the near future - please consider you are not
without competition, once you lose you advantage it WILL BE HARD to regain it.

The price of the chip should be 4$ tops, twice of esp8266.

[WiFive]

The chip price is not expensive, just the reseller prices are currently high due to low supply because they stopped production to fix silicon bugs. In 6 months the situation should be very different. Contact espressif sales directly to get real price info.

[ivanroberto]

Yes guys!!!

Do you already saw the Orange Pi Zero (256MB)...
It is cheaper than ESP32 board and brings a LOT more things.... (despite of power consumption)

I dont know, but if the Espressif don't go fast, solutions like these will get these part of market.

Best regards

[kolban]

I think its important to realize that the ESP32 is 6mm square ... about the size of the finger nail on my little finger. It has low power modes that go lower than sub mA consumption. This immediately puts it in a different league compared to the computer boards. Whether those may be Raspberry Pi, Raspberry Pi Zero, Orange Pi, C.H.I.P., Omega 2 or any of the other great Linux powered computers on a board. It is my belief that the ESP32 was not designed to "supplant" or "compete" with these "makers" devices ... but rather to be the heart of volume production "Internet of Things" solutions ... be they toys, smart light bulbs, appliances, wearables, components in tablets/phones etc etc. Basically something that needs to run for extended periods of time on batteries and where physically consumed space is at a premium.

I don't think its correct to compare a power hungry and physically large (relatively) computer on a board to an ESP32 IC any more than I could argue that a Raspberry Pi or an Orange Pi is "better" than my desk-side Dell 8 core dell with solid state drives and an nVidia graphics card being powered by a 750W power supply that can heat my home.

Its all a matter of "fit for purpose" ... I have more computing power on my Dell than I do on my Pi ... and it in turn has more computing power than I have on an ESP32 IC ... but if I need to run my application for 14 days between charges with a footprint on only a couple of cm square that weighs next to nothing ... even the Pi and Orange Pi are too large and ... I hope it goes without saying, my Dell is out of the picture.

[Jakobsen]

I will agree - size matters

Espressif has played the integration card an popped what use to be 3-4 chips or modules into one single chip - We at Merus Audio has played the card of integration. With a single 9x9mm package we integrate 24 bits audio DACs together with 4 channel power amplifiers that can be setup as any combination, power BTL, 2xBTL or 4x single channels, total up to 140 Watts output power.

In the audio application area we can not find alternatives to the ESP32. We get WIfi/BT, a micro processor that even can do limited DSP processing and 2 high quality I2S output.

Another thing to mention is the software stack. Sure I miss my Linux stack, but not the foot print of a full Linux install.
With the present code quality, architectures of hardware drivers and development in the open. We have exponential development going on here. Just hang on, I do not thing many will be cable of predict where this will head off to.

/Jakobsen