ESP32-P4: What It Is, What You Can Build, and Should You Buy One Now?
ESP32-P4: What It Is, What You Can Build, and Should You Buy One Now?
TL;DR: The ESP32-P4 is Espressif's most powerful chip, built for AI inference, image processing, and HMI (human-machine interface) applications. Dual-core RISC-V at 400MHz, hardware-accelerated image/video decoding, and 32MB of PSRAM. The catch: no built-in WiFi or Bluetooth. It pairs with an ESP32-C6 companion chip for wireless connectivity. Available now on the LILYGO T-Display-P4 and the official Espressif devkit.
What Is the ESP32-P4?
The ESP32-P4 is a departure from every previous ESP32 chip. Espressif didn't just make a faster ESP32. They made a different kind of device.
Previous ESP32 variants (the original, S2, S3, C3, C6, H2) were all wireless-first microcontrollers. WiFi and Bluetooth were the headline features. The processor was there to support wireless communication and run your application logic around it.
The P4 flips this. The processor IS the headline. WiFi is delegated to a companion chip (typically an ESP32-C6) connected via SDIO or SPI. The P4's silicon budget goes entirely toward processing power, memory bandwidth, and hardware acceleration.
This is Espressif's play for edge AI, camera-based projects, and rich display interfaces. Spaces where the ESP32-S3 worked but was clearly straining.
ESP32-P4 Specs: What's Actually Inside
| Spec | ESP32-P4 | ESP32-S3 (for comparison) |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Dual-core RISC-V, 400MHz | Dual-core Xtensa LX7, 240MHz |
| RAM | 768KB SRAM | 512KB SRAM |
| PSRAM | Up to 32MB (octal SPI) | Up to 8MB (octal SPI) |
| Flash | External, up to 128MB | Up to 16MB (typical) |
| WiFi | None (use companion chip) | 2.4GHz 802.11 b/g/n |
| Bluetooth | None (use companion chip) | BLE 5.0 |
| USB | USB 2.0 OTG (High Speed, 480Mbps) | USB 1.1 OTG (Full Speed, 12Mbps) |
| Display Interface | MIPI-DSI + RGB LCD | RGB LCD only |
| Camera Interface | MIPI-CSI (dual lane) | DVP (parallel) |
| Hardware Acceleration | H.264 encode/decode, 2D graphics, PPA (pixel processing accelerator) | None |
| AI Acceleration | Vector instructions, hardware CNN accelerator | Vector instructions only |
| Ethernet | RMII (built-in MAC) | Requires external PHY |
| GPIO | 55 | 45 |
| Power | ~150-500mW active (depends on workload) | ~50-250mW active |
| Price (chip) | ~$3-4 | ~$2-3 |
The numbers that matter: 67% faster clock, 4x the PSRAM ceiling, 40x faster USB, and hardware acceleration for tasks that previously required software encoding/decoding.
How It Compares to Other ESP32 Chips
The ESP32 family has gotten large. Here's where the P4 fits.
| Chip | Best For | WiFi | Bluetooth | Core | Clock |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ESP32 (original) | Legacy projects, cost-sensitive IoT | Yes | Classic + BLE | Xtensa LX6 | 240MHz |
| ESP32-S2 | USB HID devices, simple IoT | Yes | No | Xtensa LX7 (single) | 240MHz |
| ESP32-S3 | General IoT, audio, basic AI | Yes | BLE 5.0 | Xtensa LX7 (dual) | 240MHz |
| ESP32-C3 | Ultra-low-cost WiFi/BLE | Yes | BLE 5.0 | RISC-V (single) | 160MHz |
| ESP32-C6 | WiFi 6, Thread, Zigbee, Matter | Yes (WiFi 6) | BLE 5.0 | RISC-V (single) | 160MHz |
| ESP32-H2 | Thread/Zigbee only (no WiFi) | No | BLE 5.0 | RISC-V (single) | 96MHz |
| ESP32-P4 | AI inference, displays, cameras, HMI | No | No | RISC-V (dual) | 400MHz |
The P4 doesn't replace the S3. They serve different roles.
Use an ESP32-S3 when: your project needs WiFi/BLE on the same chip, power efficiency matters, and you're doing basic sensor/actuator work. Home automation, environmental monitoring, WLED controllers, Meshtastic nodes.
Use an ESP32-P4 when: your project needs a camera, a large display, AI inference, or any processing-heavy task where the S3's 240MHz and 8MB PSRAM ceiling was the bottleneck.
What You Can Build with the ESP32-P4
This is where it gets interesting. The P4 opens up project categories that were previously out of reach for ESP32-class hardware.
On-Device AI Inference
The hardware CNN accelerator and 32MB PSRAM mean you can run quantized TFLite or ONNX models locally. Face detection, object recognition, gesture classification, keyword spotting. Not cloud-based. On the chip itself, in real-time.
Concrete project: A doorbell camera that identifies known faces locally (no cloud, no subscription) and pushes alerts to Home Assistant. The P4's MIPI-CSI camera interface handles 1080p input. The AI accelerator runs a face embedding model. The companion ESP32-C6 sends the notification over WiFi.
Rich Display Interfaces
MIPI-DSI support means you can drive high-resolution displays (up to 1080p) without the janky parallel RGB interface workarounds required on the S3. The 2D graphics accelerator handles UI rendering in hardware.
Concrete project: A custom home dashboard on a 4.3" or 7" IPS display. Weather, calendar, Home Assistant device status, energy monitoring. Running LVGL (Light and Versatile Graphics Library) with hardware-accelerated rendering. Smooth 60fps transitions, not the choppy experience you get pushing LVGL on an S3.
Video Processing
H.264 hardware encode and decode. The P4 can record video from a camera and encode it to H.264 in hardware, or decode a video stream for playback. Previous ESP32 chips could do neither.
Concrete project: A wildlife camera that records 720p video clips when motion is detected, stores them on an SD card, and transfers them over WiFi (via C6 companion) to your NAS. The hardware encoder means the P4 isn't maxed out during recording, so it can simultaneously run a lightweight classification model to tag clips by animal type.
Audio Processing
The P4 includes I2S (inter-IC sound) with TDM support and a dedicated audio processing pipeline. Combined with the processing headroom, it can handle real-time audio effects, voice activity detection, and multi-channel audio mixing.
Concrete project: A voice-controlled intercom system for your house. Multiple P4 nodes with microphone arrays, running local wake-word detection and voice activity recognition. No cloud, no latency, no privacy concerns.
Currently Available Boards
The ESP32-P4 is new. Board options are limited but growing.
Espressif ESP32-P4 Function EV Board
The official devkit from Espressif. Includes the P4 chip, ESP32-C6 companion (for WiFi/BLE), MIPI-CSI camera connector, MIPI-DSI display connector, USB 2.0 High Speed, Ethernet, SD card slot, and a full set of GPIO breakout headers.
Price: ~$40-50 from Mouser/DigiKey Best for: Serious development. All interfaces exposed. Full ESP-IDF support.
LILYGO T-Display-P4
LILYGO's take on the P4. Compact board with a built-in display (expected to be a high-resolution IPS panel, LILYGO's signature feature), USB-C, and WiFi via an onboard ESP32-C6.
Price: ~$25-35 (pre-order/early availability pricing varies) Best for: Display projects, HMI, dashboards. If you liked the T-Display-S3, this is its bigger sibling with significantly more processing power.
More Coming
Waveshare, Seeed Studio, and other board makers are expected to release P4 boards through Q2-Q3 2026. The chip is in mass production and ESP-IDF support is maturing rapidly. If you don't see what you need yet, more options are a few months away.
Should You Buy One Now or Wait?
Buy now if:
- You have a specific project that needs more processing power than the ESP32-S3 provides
- You want camera-based AI inference on-device (face detection, object recognition)
- You're building a display-heavy HMI project and need smooth rendering
- You like being early to a platform and are comfortable with evolving documentation
Wait if:
- You primarily build WiFi/BLE sensor projects (the S3 or C6 is still the better fit)
- You need mature Arduino IDE support (ESP-IDF is the primary framework right now, Arduino support for P4 is in early stages)
- You want a wide selection of ready-made boards (give it 3-6 months)
- Your current S3 projects work fine and you're not hitting performance walls
The ESP-IDF (Espressif's official framework) has P4 support in stable releases as of early 2026. Arduino-ESP32 support is in beta. PlatformIO support is coming. If you develop in ESP-IDF already, the tooling is ready. If you're Arduino-only, wait a bit.
Resources and Community
- ESP32-P4 Datasheet (PDF) from Espressif
- ESP-IDF Programming Guide for P4 from Espressif
- r/esp32 on Reddit (active P4 discussion threads)
- LILYGO GitHub repos for T-Display-P4 examples
- ESP32-P4 channels on the Espressif Discord server
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the ESP32-P4 have WiFi?
No. The ESP32-P4 does not include WiFi or Bluetooth. It pairs with a companion chip (typically an ESP32-C6) for wireless connectivity. The C6 connects to the P4 via SDIO or SPI. Most development boards (the official Espressif devkit, LILYGO T-Display-P4) include the C6 onboard, so you get WiFi out of the box without buying a separate module.
Is the ESP32-P4 compatible with Arduino IDE?
Arduino-ESP32 support for the P4 is in beta as of April 2026. Basic functionality works, but some P4-specific features (MIPI-DSI, hardware video codec, CNN accelerator) may require ESP-IDF APIs. If you're building a display or AI project that uses P4-specific hardware, plan on using ESP-IDF directly. For simpler GPIO and sensor projects, Arduino IDE works.
How much does an ESP32-P4 board cost?
The official Espressif ESP32-P4 Function EV Board is $40-50 from major distributors. The LILYGO T-Display-P4 is expected at $25-35. Prices will likely come down as more manufacturers release boards. The bare P4 chip itself is $3-4 in quantity, comparable to other ESP32 variants.
Can the ESP32-P4 run machine learning models?
Yes. The P4 includes a hardware CNN accelerator and vector processing instructions. Combined with 32MB of PSRAM, it can run quantized TFLite Micro and ONNX Micro Runtime models on-device. Practical applications include face detection, object classification, keyword spotting, and gesture recognition. Performance roughly matches what a Raspberry Pi Zero W2 can do with TFLite, but at a fraction of the power consumption.
Should I get the ESP32-P4 or a Raspberry Pi?
Different tools. The P4 is a microcontroller: instant boot, low power, real-time control, deterministic timing. The Raspberry Pi is a computer: runs Linux, Docker, databases, full Python stack. If your project needs a camera plus on-device AI without an OS, the P4 is the right call. If your project needs a web server, a database, or complex application logic, the Pi is better. For home automation hubs, the Pi wins. For smart sensors and edge devices, the P4 wins.
What happened to the ESP32-P4's WiFi?
It was never planned. The "P" in P4 stands for "performance." Espressif intentionally removed the wireless radio to dedicate the die area and power budget to processing cores, memory controllers, and hardware accelerators. This is a deliberate architectural choice, not a cost cut. The companion chip approach (P4 + C6) actually gives you WiFi 6 and Thread/Zigbee support, which the S3 can't do.
Last updated: April 2026. Prices and availability reflect current listings at time of publication.