Waveshare ESP32-S3-Touch-LCD-4.3B: Featuring Xtensa LX7 Dual-Core Processor and ESP32-S3 SoC
The Waveshare ESP32-S3-Touch-LCD-4.3B is a flexible development board built on the ESP32-S3 SoC with RS485, CAN Bus, I2C, and isolated DIO interfaces via terminal block. It has a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 800×480. The board includes a 32-bit dual-core Xtensa LX7 processor (up to 240 MHz), 16 MB of flash storage, and […]
The Waveshare ESP32-S3-Touch-LCD-4.3B is a flexible development board built on the ESP32-S3 SoC with RS485, CAN Bus, I2C, and isolated DIO interfaces via terminal block. It has a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 800×480. The board includes a 32-bit dual-core Xtensa LX7 processor (up to 240 MHz), 16 MB of flash storage, and 8 MB of PSRAM. It supports 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5, and I2C touch control and has an RTC and microSD card slot. ESP32-S3-Touch-LCD-4.3B is ideal for IoT HMI, smart home automation, and other ESP32-S3 projects.
Previously, we wrote about the Waveshare RP2040-LCD-1.28, which has a 1.28-inch round LCD display, a Li-ion battery charger, and a 6-axis sensor (3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis gyroscope). Feel free to check it out if you’re interested.
Waveshare ESP32-S3 touch LCD specifications:
- MCU: Espressif Systems ESP32-S3R8
- CPU: Dual-core Tensilica LX7 @ up to 240 MHz with vector instructions for AI acceleration, 384KB ROM.
- Memory: 512KB RAM and 8MB PSRAM
- Storage: 16MB Flash
- Connectivity: 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 5.0 LE with support for long-range, up to 2Mbps data rate, mesh network.
- Storage: MicroSD card slot
- Display:
- 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen
- 800×480 resolution
- I2C touch control
- Input/Output
- CAN Bus (TJA1051T/3)
- RS485 (SP3485EN)
- I2C
- Isolated Digital Input: 2x DI (5-36V, passive/active, bi-directional optocoupler)
- Isolated Digital Output: 2x DO (5-36V, 450mA/channel)
- Additional Features
- Onboard RTC (Real-Time Clock) chip
- LED indicators for power and battery status
- Power Supply
- 7-36V DC via terminal block
- USB Type-C
- Rechargeable battery support (3.7V lithium)
- Operating Temperature: 0°C ~ 65°C
- Dimensions: 112.4mm x 75.1mm
The Waveshare ESP32-S3 Touch LCD 4.3B wiki page gives detailed info on the board’s features, specs, setup instructions, and usage examples. It’s a helpful resource for developers using this versatile board.
The Waveshare ESP32-S3 touch LCD is available on AliExpress for $44.23. The dev board is also available on Amazon for $42.99, and on the Waveshare store for $36.99, but the price for the latter does not include shipping.
At first glance, this Waveshare LCD Touch device appears to be a well-designed and promising product. However, once you attempt to use it beyond basic graphic display, its limitations become painfully clear.
Despite being marketed as a multifunctional development platform, the available I2C, DIN, and DOUT ports are non-functional in practice, and the touch interface introduces severe conflicts with any peripheral communication. The screen itself monopolizes nearly all usable GPIOs on the ESP32, leaving developers with virtually no room to expand functionality without entering into deep hardware or firmware compromises.
The libraries provided by Waveshare are riddled with bugs, often incomplete or outdated, and in many cases incompatible with the official ESP32 frameworks. Developers are forced to spend countless hours—often days—on tedious trial-and-error procedures just to achieve minimal functionality. This is not an isolated case, but a pattern that repeats across all Waveshare LCD Touch models.
What’s worse is that Waveshare has failed to address these longstanding issues, despite hundreds of documented complaints, forum threads, and direct messages sent to their support channels. The absence of proper documentation, lack of GPIO remapping options, and no official response to recurring technical conflicts clearly show a lack of commitment to product support or quality assurance.
In its current state, this product is not viable for serious development. If you intend to use any of its available interfaces (I2C, UART, etc.), you’ll be forced to disable the touch function entirely. Conversely, if you need touch functionality, you must sacrifice all general-purpose IO, which defeats the purpose of using an ESP32-based board in the first place.
It’s a real shame—this could have been a powerful and flexible module, but in reality, it is a deeply flawed design that causes more problems than it solves. Unless Waveshare takes immediate and transparent action to resolve these hardware/software conflicts and provide proper support, I strongly recommend avoiding these products altogether. For developers who value time, stability, and scalability, Waveshare LCD Touch devices are, unfortunately, a costly and frustrating dead end.