Over the years we have looked at a number of products from Apple, and in their mobile products we have seen a continuous series of design wins for power management chips from Dialog Semiconductor, all custom-made parts since they have not been in their normal product listings. 

One of the distinguishing features of each part has been the code names Dialog has used for them - as my colleague Jim Morrison has noted, they are all girl's names starting with A! Now read on..

Contributed by Jim Morrison

When it comes to Apple, the letter “A” features very prominently at Dialog Semiconductor.

Why, you ask? Every time we take a look at the power management ICs in Apple products, we find another Dialog Semiconductor device that has been named with a female first name, beginning with “A,” as we previously blogged about with Dialog Semiconductor's design win in the iPad 2 .

Our most recent examination of the iPad 3 revealed Amelia in the PMIC for Apple's newest tablet.


Amelia (D1974A) from the New iPad

Does Dialog like to code their products so that all devices developed for Apple begin with A? Does renowned secrecy at Apple require all suppliers to be so hush-hush that to avoid errors, they talk about Apple using code names? Or does the power management team at Dialog just have a thing for female first names beginning with "A"? Perhaps the design manager has a family of daughters that all have names beginning with A. My family is all names with J so it’s quite possible another family has all As.

The iPhone 3 and 3GS liked Amanda, the iPhone 4 and the iPad 1 liked Ashley (Dialog Semiconductor D1815A ), the iPhone 4s has Angelina, Dialog Semiconductor D1881A (my favourite), the iPad 2 has Alison (Dialog Semiconductor D1946A ), and now our iPad 3 has chosen Amelia.

Amanda (D1755A) from the iPhone 3 and 3GS



Ashley (D1815A) from the iPhone 4 and the iPad 1



Angelina (D1881A) from the iPhone 4S



Alison (D1946A) from the iPad 2

 These die markings are changing because the die design has changed to accommodate new power requirements as we went from A4 processors to A5 to A5X, and other modifications in products that required changes to the PMIC.

We will see if the series continues in the iPhone 5 expected in the next few months..