Banana Pi BPI-PicoW-S3 introduced as Raspberry Pi Pico W clone
Banana Pi has taken inspiration from the Raspberry Pi ecosystem again with the BPI-PicoW-S3, a development board that relies on the Raspberry Pi Pico W's form factor. According to CNX Software, the BPI-PicoW-S3 has a more powerful microcontroller than the Pico W, as well as Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) support and vector instructions for AI acceleration.
Specifically, the BPI-PicoW-S3 relies on the Espressif System ESP32-S3, which has a dual-core Tensilica LX7 running at 240 MHz, 512 KB SRAM, 8 MB PSRAM, Bluetooth 5 LE and WiFi 4 support. Also, Banana Pi has included 2 MB of QSPI flash storage, mirroring the Pico W. Similarly, the BPI-PicoW-S3 has a single micro USB port for 5 V power and twin 20-pin headers with 2.54 mm pitches and castellated holes.
Conversely, the 51 x 21 mm board has a reset button rather than a BOOTSEL button like the Pico W. Separately, Banana Pi provides numerous software details on the BPI-PicoW-S3 wiki, along with appropriate download links. The BPI-PicoW-S3 starts at US$5.50 per unit on AliExpress; shipments should begin next month. However, Banana Pi is currently charging nearly double that for shipping and approximately US$7 more for shipping per unit ordered. It remains to be seen whether this practice will continue, hopefully Banana Pi revises shipping costs accordingly.
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