Bosch SMI330 and BMI330 6-axis IMUs
A family of small 6-axis inertial measurement units from Bosch Sensortec, combining a 3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis gyroscope on a single chip that talks over I2C or SPI. The BMI330 is aimed at consumer motion-sensing while the automotive-grade SMI330 variant targets embedded, industrial, and robotics designs in the mid-2020s.
recommendation
It should stay in the kernel because this is brand-new code: the driver was merged upstream in November 2025 with a follow-up cleanup in January 2026, and Bosch still actively sells and documents the BMI330/SMI330 part with a 2025 datasheet. There is no alternative in-tree driver for this chip family.
repository signals
sources
- git.kernel.org
Driver was added upstream on 2025-11-09, indicating a very new in-tree device rather than legacy carry-over.
- git.kernel.org
The directory received a substantive follow-up cleanup on 2026-01-16, showing ongoing upstream maintenance after merge.
- lkml.org
Public review traffic exists for the SMI330 bring-up patch series, consistent with a recently upstreamed active driver and not a removal candidate.
- bosch-sensortec.com
Bosch still lists BMI330 as a current product, with current technical collateral and ordering/distributor links, supporting that the hardware remained a new-sale part in 2025/2026.
- bosch-sensortec.com
The vendor datasheet is a 2025 document for BMI330, reinforcing that the part is contemporary hardware.
- cateee.net
LKDDb shows in-tree I2C support in 6.19 and HEAD, confirming active kernel integration rather than orphaned code.
- cateee.net
LKDDb shows in-tree SPI support in 6.19 and HEAD, confirming active kernel integration rather than orphaned code.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Not an early-exit case: this directory contains real IIO driver code with SPI/I2C bus glue and module entry points (shell: `rg`, `sed`). Lore-specific shell path was blocked because `lei` is not installed, so upstream-history evidence was taken from local `git log` (shell) and mapped to canonical git.kernel.org commit URLs by canonical recall; public review evidence came from web search to LKML. Web search also found the Bosch product page and 2025 datasheet showing the BMI330/SMI330 family is still current hardware, likely used in embedded/industrial/robotics deployments but not at mass PC-like scale. No natural replacement driver exists for the same chip; this is the direct upstream driver for that sensor family.