In my hobby projects, I tend to use the AVR line. Starting from ATMega328p over a decade ago, the AVR line has always had a special place in my hobby toolbox.

Browsing a bit on Microchip's blog, I discovered that the a new line of chips, the AVR LA, was announced this month (June 2026). This surprisingly continues the tradition of 8-bit microcontrollers into the year of 2026.

Looking over the specs sheet, it seems like Microchip is really selling this as a Capacitive Touch controller, with improvements against noise?? (Something about a driven shield + extra boost? Maybe a voltage boost for faster touch sensing?)

I don't fully understand the capacitive touch side, but its something that Microchip has often included in various AVR chips.

The other tidbits I've noticed is how much weaker / cheaper the specs seem to be compared to AVR DD or AVR EB released in the past 5 years. 10-bit ADC (instead of 12-bit on the DD). Fewer comparators. No "special features" (AVR DB had op-amps as part of the package. AVR EA had programmable-gain differential ADC capable of detecting differences of just a dozen microvolts of change....)

AVR LA however? Seemingly all focused on capacitive-touch features. Maybe someone in this topic can talk if this "driven shield" thing is worth all the effort.

That being said: the AVR LA seems to come in at a significantly lower cost, closer to the 50-cents @5k price point.

There's a few misc changes. "TimerA" (which has been present for years) seems to have been completely replaced by "TimerE". Capabilities wise that's fine, TimerE seems better than TimerA in all ways I can think of... but anyone who built code on the older timer might have some code rewriting before they can use this new chip.

Finally, 1.62V is a few hundredths of a volt lower than previous specs (of 1.8V from earlier models). Someone out there probably is excited about ever so slightly better battery lives from this.

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I appreciate the new line of chips, its always nice to see that the AVR team is still active with new things. However, for the hobbyist, I'll say that the AVR DB is probably better overall chip for most hobbyists. AVR DB is still the 8-bit instruction set you know and love, but has a far wider range of sizes and capabilities (including dual-supply, op-amps, more timers, more comparators, better ADC spec, etc. etc.)

AVR LA seems to be specializing for either low-cost, low-voltage, or finally capacitive touch panels. But aside from those other three uses, this feels very much like a "ATTiny", just a far less capable chip compared to AVR DD/DB/EA/EB (which would be like a modern ATMega).