is nRF52 recommended over nRF51 for new development?

[SushilN]

Hi,

I am new to the nRF world of controllers. I am planning to use these wireless MCU for our IoT enabled products. We are in the early stages of finalizing the MCS, so I would be intrested to hear the expert opinion / recommendations on whether to use nRF51 or nRF52? The suggestion can be based on the issues with hardware/firmware/code base support from nordic/compiler/memory/operating speed/BLE performance/power consumption/debugger...etc.

[RK]

The nRF52 does everything the nRF51 does plus has extra features, is better on power, more power in the processor. It has a built-in balun (slightly lower bill of materials), more memory, more flash. It has the same level of toolkit support as the nRF51, now the move to S130/S132 is done and any feature added, will be added for both, as long as the lower-power nRF51 can support it.

So absent any other reasons I'd use the nRF52. If however you don't need the power, don't need that much flash or memory and cost is a consideration, you may be able to lower cost per unit by using one of the variants of the nRF51.

[awneil]

Update:

The nRF51 is now (2019) not recommended for new BLE designs:

https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/f/nordic-q-a/42960/status-of-nrf51-products/169728#169728