IoT
The History of ESP32: From Wi-Fi MCU to IoT Platform
ESP32 arrived in 2016 as Espressif's Wi-Fi and Bluetooth MCU, building on the success of the ESP8266 and becoming a major platform for connected projects.
Before ESP32: the ESP8266
The story of ESP32 starts with Espressif Systems, founded in Shanghai in 2008. In 2014 the company released the ESP8266EX, a low-cost Wi-Fi SoC that became widely used for connected devices and maker projects.
The ESP8266 showed that inexpensive Wi-Fi connectivity could be integrated into small embedded projects without requiring an expensive networking platform.
ESP32 arrives
Espressif released its flagship ESP32 in 2016. The original ESP32 combined a 32-bit microcontroller with 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, giving developers more computing power and connectivity options than the ESP8266 generation.
Espressif also introduced ESP-IDF as the official development framework for ESP32. At the same time, the chip became popular in the maker ecosystem through development boards and support from familiar tools, including the Arduino ecosystem.
From one chip to a family
ESP32 did not remain a single product. Espressif expanded the family with devices such as ESP32-S2, ESP32-S3, ESP32-C3 and later generations aimed at different combinations of connectivity, performance, security and power consumption.
Today, the name ESP32 represents a broad embedded and IoT ecosystem rather than just the original 2016 chip. For makers and engineers, its importance comes from combining wireless connectivity, capable microcontrollers and a large development ecosystem in relatively compact hardware.