Curious: Looking at the Photon, which uses a Cypress chip, why was the ESP32 selected for the Argon? I presume it was to deal with the 40/80 mhz issues the Cypress chip had, but I’d like to hear more about it if anyone knows the genesis of the design. Also, in general, why not develop the platform on a TI chip like the CC3220? Was it simply that the ESP32 is very cheap and fits the bill?
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The original particle core was developed using the TI CC3000 I belive, the esp32 was an upgrade.
Disclaimer: Personal impression as long time user
IIRC the legacy Core was also bogged down by the sub-par support TI provided when it came to silicon and/or closed source “driver” issues and the tendency to just phase out one model and move on to a new revision without providing a drop-in replacement for the phased out/flawed controller.
My personal impression was that TI didn’t take Particel (Spark back then) seriously enough and let them stand in the cold.
“Fool me once, shame on you - fool me twice, shame on me”, springs to mind.
Then next generation was/is based on STM32F2 which is packaged with a Broadcom (now Cypress) WiFi module. That package (P0) is produced by USI and Particle is somewhat dependent on that 3rd party and consequently cannot be fully in control of the life time of the P0, P1 and Photon devices.
Espressif and its ESP32 line has matured over time and become something of a constant in the WiFi landscape and hence appears to provide a more reliable basis for Particle to keep control over their product’s life expetancy.
Having said all that, the best answers you’d still get of Particle employees and @will would be my go-to for this kind of question.
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"Particle Mesh" springs to mind. 
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Hmm, I see where you are coming from - was a bummer for me too 
Yes – largely because of the strong ecosystem emerging around the ESP32 compared to TI’s CC3XXX ecosystem and WICED, which has been bought and sold from Broadcom > Cypress > Infineon.
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Hello! Speaking of Argon, are there any plans to have a production version of it made, something similar in the lines of P1? Especially since P1 is now NRND?
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