April 3, 2026
Ethernet envy meets PoE FOMO
ESP32-S31: 320MHz 2C RV32IMAFCP+CLIC, 512KB SRAM, GbE, 802.11ax, 61 GPIO
Wi‑Fi 6 + gigabit dreams, but commenters are shouting: “Give us PoE”
TLDR: Espressif announced the ESP32‑S31, a powerhouse chip with Wi‑Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, smart‑home radios, and gigabit Ethernet. Commenters are excited but demand Power over Ethernet, grumble about confusing names and past support issues, and ask for a fair price—big potential if those concerns get addressed.
Espressif just dropped the ESP32‑S31 bombshell: a dual‑core RISC‑V chip with Wi‑Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, Zigbee/Thread for smart homes, and built‑in gigabit Ethernet—plus camera and screen support for fancy gadgets. But the real show is in the comments, where the crowd is split between hype and side‑eye.
One camp is chanting “PoE or bust”—they want Power over Ethernet so one cable can do data and power. As one user put it, powering “a fleet” with USB is “annoying as fsck.” Another pile‑on: naming chaos. “S31” sounds like a minor “S3” refresh, but the spec sheet screams “big upgrade.” Cue memes about a future ESP32‑S3X‑ULTRA‑MEGA and pleas for a naming guide.
Meanwhile, price anxiety hits hard: “How much?” pops up again and again. Old‑timers also nitpick history: earlier ESP32s had 10/100 Ethernet via an external chip, but this one’s gigabit—a genuine step up for wired smart‑home hubs and industrial boxes. Still, skeptics warn about support: some say prior boards were “hit or miss,” and wonder if software and docs have improved.
Bottom line: the ESP32‑S31 reads like a tiny all‑in‑one PC for gadgets—fast wireless, wired backup, voice‑friendly Bluetooth, strong security, and lots of pins. But the community’s verdict hinges on three things: PoE, price, and polish.
Key Points
- •Espressif announced the ESP32-S31, a dual-core RISC-V SoC integrating Wi‑Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4 (LE and Classic), IEEE 802.15.4, and a 1000 Mbps Ethernet MAC.
- •The SoC targets advanced IoT devices and will support Matter over both Wi‑Fi and Thread.
- •Compute features include 320 MHz dual-core RISC‑V with MMU, 61 GPIO, a 128-bit SIMD data path on one core, 512 KB SRAM, and support for 250 MHz 8-bit DDR PSRAM.
- •Multimedia/HMI features include DVP camera, parallel LCD with color space conversion, up to 14 capacitive touch channels, JPEG codec, PPA 2D acceleration, and 2D‑DMA.
- •Security features include RAM-based PUF key management, secure boot, memory encryption, TEE with APM, cryptographic acceleration, and protections against side-channel and power glitch attacks; software support includes ESP‑IDF, ESP‑Matter, and ESP‑GMF.