Moddo Pinch Is the Smallest 32-Bit Arduino Board Yet
The Moddo Pinch fits a 32-bit SAMD11 Arm chip into a 10.9x10.5mm body — the smallest Arduino-compatible board, with pre-orders open at $15.90.
Moddo Pinch Shrinks a 32-Bit Arduino Board to Fingertip Size
If you have ever wished an Arduino could disappear into a wearable or a tiny enclosure, the Moddo Pinch is aimed squarely at you. Canada-based Moddo opened pre-orders on July 14, 2026 for what it calls the world's smallest 32-bit Arduino-compatible board — a 10.9 x 10.5 mm sliver of a computer that still packs a real Arm Cortex-M0+ processor and a full complement of I/O. It is a delightful bit of miniaturization, and it makes capable 32-bit prototyping possible in spaces where nothing else fits.
- Record size: 10.9 x 10.5 mm, edging out the 8-bit ATTO board while stepping up to a 32-bit core
- The chip: Microchip SAMD11 (ATSAMD11D14A), an Arm Cortex-M0+ at 48 MHz with 16 KB flash (12 KB free for sketches) and 4 KB SRAM
- The I/O: 12 GPIO, 5 analog inputs, 11 PWM channels, one DAC, plus I2C, SPI, and two UARTs
- Availability: Pre-order breakout kit at $15.90, with USB-C for power, programming, and HID; shipping targeted for September 2026
What Can You Build With a Board This Small?
The Pinch is designed to slip into projects where board size is the constraint — wearables, tiny robots, custom USB gadgets, and space-limited sensor nodes. Because its USB-C port supports HID, the board can present itself to a computer as a keyboard, mouse, or game controller, which opens up a whole category of compact custom input devices. And unlike the ultra-tiny 8-bit boards that came before it, the Pinch's 32-bit SAMD11 brings smoother math, more headroom, and modern peripherals like a true DAC — all while staying fully compatible with the familiar Arduino IDE.
Small Board, Full Arduino Workflow
The best part for newcomers is that nothing about the workflow changes. You write sketches in the same Arduino IDE, flash over USB-C, and use the 3.3 V onboard regulator, RGB LED, and reset button just as you would on a bigger board. That approachability is what makes the Pinch more than a novelty — it is a practical single-board computer for real projects that happen to be tiny. It carries forward the same pocket-sized, hackable ethos as compact builds like the PocketMage ESP32 e-ink PDA, just scaled down to fingertip proportions.
A Fun Milestone for Makers
Moddo says the Pinch is in final testing ahead of mass production, with the breakout kit shipping in September. At $15.90 to pre-order, it is an inexpensive way to add a genuinely capable 32-bit microcontroller to builds that previously had no room for one. Records like "world's smallest" are always a little playful, but this one comes with a real upgrade in capability — and that combination of tiny, affordable, and beginner-friendly is exactly what keeps the maker world so much fun.
Sources: CNX Software — July 14, 2026; Moddo Product Page — July 2026.
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