Ambiq Apollo330 Plus SoC Series is a new family of ultra-low-power, sub-threshold Arm Cortex-M55 microcontrollers with optional Bluetooth 5.4 LE and 802.15.4 radios for IoT and Smart Home applications.
The Ambiq Apollo330 Plus MCU itself appears to be a cost-down version of the Ambiq Apollo510 general-purpose Cortex-M55 MCU introduced last year, with the removal of display and graphics support, lower RAM and NVM capacities (2MB/2MB vs. 3.75MB/4MB), and fewer I/Os, but with a wider 1.71 to 3.63V voltage supply range. Two other SKUs add wireless: the Apollo330B Plus includes a Bluetooth 5.4 LE radio, and the Apollo330M Plus an extra 802.15.4 radio for Zigbee, Thread, and Matter as a multiprotocol SoC.
Ambiq Apollo330 Plus specifications:
- CPU Core – 32-bit Arm Cortex-M55 @ 96 MHz / 250 MHz (turboSPOT) with Helium technology, Network coprocessor
- Memory- 2MB SRAM
- Storage
- 2MB NVM
- SDIO v3.0 and eMMC flash controllers
- Wireless
- Arm Cortex-M4F network processor @ 48/96 MHz
- Apollo330B/M Plus only – Bluetooth Low Energy 5.4
- Auracast broadcast audio with LC3 codec
- Direction Finding (single antenna)
- Advertising Extensions
- Long Range
- Periodic Advertising with Response (PAwR)
- Apollo330M Plus only – 802.15.4, Thread, and Matter
- Rx Sensitivity – -96/-98/-104 dBm @ 2Mbps/1Mbps/125kbps
- Tx output power – Up to +14 dBm
- Audio
- I2S Master/Slave full-duplex
- PDM stereo DMIC Interface
- PLL for Precision Audio
- Peripheral interfaces
- MSPI Master
- 2x 1/2/4-bit wide up to 96 MT/s (SDR, DDR)
- 1x 1/2/4/8/16-bit wide up to 250 MT/s (SDR, DDR)
- 6x I2C/SPI masters for peripheral communication
- I2C/SPI full-duplex slave for host communications
- MIPI I3C master interface
- 2x UART
- 1x USB 2.0 FS/HS device controller
- Up to 120x GPIO
- Analog
- 12-bit ADC, 11 selectable input channels with up to 1.7 MS/s or 2.8 MS/s (Apollo330M Plus) sampling rate
- Temperature sensor
- MSPI Master
- Security – secureSPOT 3.0, Arm TrustZone Security
- Supply Voltage – 1.71 to 3.63V
- Package – BGA (AP3030MPA-IBR) or CSP (AP3030MPA-CCR) at about 4 x 4 mm
- Temperature Range – Commercial: -20°C to +70°C; industrial: -40°C to +85°C
Ambiq says the Apollo330 Plus microcontrollers deliver over 16x faster performance and lower latency, and 30x better AI energy efficiency than similar solutions based on previous generation Cortex-M processors. They are designed to enable always-on and real-time AI inferencing on devices, including for always-on voice, thanks to the built-in ultra-low power digital microphone PDM interface.
Like all other Ambiq microcontrollers, the Apollo330 Plus series implements the company’s subthreshold power optimized technology (SPOT) platform for ultra-low-power operations, but I was unable to find power consumption numbers.
The Apollo330 Plus base model without wireless connectivity targets wearables and medical/healthcare applications, the BLE-enabled Apollo330B Plus will be used in connected peripherals and audio devices, and the multiprotocol Apollo330M Plus will be integrated into Smart Home appliances, smart meters, and industrial edge devices.
In some ways, the Apollo330B/M Plus microcontrollers provide an alternative to products like Silicon Labs BG24/MG24, Nordic Semi nRF54L15, or the upcoming NXP MCX W72x multi-protocol wireless SoC. But all those are based on Cortex-M33 cores, and the Cortex-M55 core found in the Apollo330 Plus Series will deliver much better ML/AI performance. It’s also the first Cortex-M55 wireless microcontroller we’ve covered here. One downside with Ambiq is that they don’t provide much public information for developers, so you need to contact the company and probably sign an NDA to get access to the SDK and development boards, at least in the early stages. I can see the Ambiq AP510EVB Evaluation Board is now available for sale on the company’s eStore, which was not the case at launch last year.
More details about the new Apollo330 Plus series can be found on the product page as well as in a press release published for Embedded World 2025.
Thanks to Marcin for the tip.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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