> How does a "mandate" like that work? A couple of different levels of mandate come to mind, some of which may overlap: 1. Qualcomm won't sell you the SoC wit

> How does a "mandate" like that work? A couple of different levels of mandate come to mind, some of which may overlap: 1. Qualcomm won't sell you the SoC without the appropriate number of their PMICs to support it. 2. Qualcomm's reference designs only include their PMICs, and the datasheets don't tell you what electrical requirements those parts are satisfying. 3. The reference firmware from Qualcomm expects those PMICs to be present, and will panic if they aren't. 4. Same as #3, except it's in the boot ROM. 5. Part of the power supply is internal to the SoC, and the matching Qualcomm PMIC is required to complete it. The SemiAccurate article suggests that #1 and #2 are definitely the case, and #3-5 may be true as well.