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Raspberry Pi and Dolphin Design announced a collaboration on chip power-management technology on May 27, 2024. It could support more efficient Raspberry Pi silicon, but the announcement named no specific chip and reported no measured power savings. A later Raspberry Pi announcement credits Dolphin Design among the IP contributors to the RP2350 microcontroller used in Pico 2, making that the clearest current product connection—not proof that every detail of the 2024 partnership was about RP2350.
What Raspberry Pi and Dolphin Design announced
Dolphin Design said it was working with Raspberry Pi to integrate power-management solutions into Raspberry Pi semiconductor projects using TSMC’s 40 nm technology. The stated aims included improved power efficiency and performance, greater reliability, and the possibility of longer battery life. Dolphin Design’s May 27, 2024 announcement did not name a chip or board, publish benchmark results, show a die, or give a product timetable. It was a technology collaboration announcement, not a new Raspberry Pi product launch.
TSMC is the foundry whose 40 nm process technology the announcement referenced; Dolphin Design supplies semiconductor design IP and related expertise. The process-node number alone does not establish how efficient a finished chip will be: results depend on circuit design, operating voltage, leakage, libraries, and performance targets.
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Power-management IP is reusable or customized circuitry that helps a chip regulate and distribute its internal power. Depending on the design, it can include voltage regulators, switching regulators, low-dropout regulators (LDOs), power-on reset, brown-out detection, voltage-domain control, and power sequencing. The goal is to make power delivery work reliably and efficiently for the chip’s operating conditions.
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- 【Supports Pi5 power supply protocol】The robot regulated power supply expansion board supports the Pi5 power supply protocol, which can provide 5V/5A power supply to the Pi 5, effectively avoiding the low voltage and USB port current limit warnings of the Pi 5. Ensure sufficient current is provided to USB peripherals to avoid abnormal situations such as freezing and restarting, and unleash the full performance of Raspberry Pi 5.
- 【Powerful power supply compatibility】6~24V wide voltage input, 5V/5A stable output. Requires regulated 5V power supply equipment: such as RaspberryPi, Jetson Nano, Arduino, STM32 development board, etc. Additional self-purchased cables are required to connect Arduino and STM32.
- 【Power supply output mode】The robot regulated power supply expansion board has flexible input voltage adaptation and stable output characteristics. It can intelligently adjust the output current according to different input voltages to ensure that it provides 5V/3A output when the input is 6V, and 5V/3A when the input is 7V. Provides higher 5V/5A output when input to 24V to meet the power supply needs of different devices.
- 【Comes with dual Type-C power supply adapter boards】Pi5 uses dual Type-C power supply adapter boards to directly connect to the regulated power supply expansion board. The power supply adapter board supports the PD protocol to meet the power transmission needs of Pi 5. Effectively reduce cable redundancy. It also supports Pi5 stacking installation, which is not only suitable for Pi 5, but also compatible with the stacking use of Pi4B and other motherboards.
- 【Application Scenario】It can provide mobile power supply for various types of Raspberry Pi 5 robots. It has a safe and stable power supply system, with on-board input anti-reverse protection, output over-current protection, current-limiting protection, over-voltage protection, and over-temperature protection. Yahboom provides technical support, please contact us if you have any questions.
Putting these functions on the chip can reduce the need for some external components and give the designer tighter control over power behavior. It is not an automatic guarantee of lower total board consumption: a board’s power draw also depends on its workload, clock speed, memory and peripheral activity, firmware, supply circuitry, and connected devices. Switching regulators can also introduce electrical noise that matters in sensitive analog applications.
RP2350 is the clearest product connection
Raspberry Pi introduced the RP2350 with the Pico 2 in August 2024. Raspberry Pi lists an on-chip switch-mode power supply and a low-quiescent-current LDO among the microcontroller’s features, and credits Dolphin Design among the IP contributors. That links Dolphin to a named Raspberry Pi silicon project after the collaboration announcement. Raspberry Pi did not explicitly say that every element of the May partnership announcement mapped directly to RP2350, so it is more accurate to describe Dolphin as a credited IP contributor than to call the chip a fully disclosed co-design.
RP2350 includes two Arm Cortex-M33 cores and two Raspberry Pi-designed Hazard3 RISC-V cores. The RP2350A comes in a 7×7 mm QFN60 package with 30 GPIOs; RP2350B comes in a 10×10 mm QFN80 package with 48 GPIOs. RP2354A and RP2354B variants add 2 MB of stacked-in-package QSPI flash. These specifications and Raspberry Pi’s Dolphin acknowledgment appear in the Pico 2 and RP2350 announcement.
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- Battery not included, unlimited battery capacity: compatible with 3.7V lithium-ion and lithium-polymer batteries (PH2.0 interface). Choose the battery capacity best suited for your Raspberry Pi project.
- Multi-Level Protection – Equipped with advanced over-voltage, over-current, under-voltage, and system protection layers to ensure your Raspberry Pi runs safely and reliably.
- Settings can be configured via web UI and APP：Monitor battery status through WebUI, App or I²C. Supports OTA firmware updates, soft shutdown, watchdog protection and customizable button actions.
- Non-Intrusive Design – Installs easily on the back of the Raspberry Pi Zero series without blocking the GPIO header, allowing full compatibility with other HATs or accessories.
Dolphin had an earlier documented role in RP2040
The RP2040 datasheet credits Dolphin Design SAS with the chip’s voltage-regulator and power-on-reset/brown-out-detector IP. That is specific evidence of Dolphin technology in Raspberry Pi silicon predating the 2024 announcement. It does not show that the 2024 partnership was about RP2040; the partnership notice did not name a product. The attribution is in the RP2040 datasheet.
What “more power-efficient” means—and what remains unknown
The efficiency improvement was a stated objective, not a published result. Dolphin and Raspberry Pi did not disclose an apples-to-apples test, a percentage reduction in power, or a battery-life figure for RP2350 or another named chip. There is no basis in the announcement for claiming that every Raspberry Pi board will consume less power or that Pico 2 outperforms every competing microcontroller on power.
- IP-level capability: A regulator or control block can be designed to reduce losses or support low-power states.
- Chip-level implementation: The result depends on how that IP is integrated and configured in a particular silicon design.
- Board-level consumption: Regulators, sensors, radios, displays, and other circuitry can materially affect the power drawn from a supply.
- Application-level battery life: Runtime also depends on the battery, workload, duty cycle, firmware, and peripherals.
These levels are related, but one does not prove the next. A low-quiescent-current regulator may matter most during deep sleep, while conversion efficiency can be more important during sustained or burst workloads. Battery runtime also depends on the regulator’s operating conditions and the rest of the system. For noise-sensitive analog designs, a separate or filtered supply may be preferable even when on-chip switching helps integration.
Rank #3
- The Raspberry Pi 5 PD Power expansion board is designed to enhance the functionality of the Raspberry Pi 5 by providing Power Delivery (PD) capabilities. This expansion board supports an Always-ON switch, enabling automatic startup of the Raspberry Pi upon power restoration. Additionally, it offers the convenience of manual power control through a push-button mechanism.
- Always-ON Switch --- Default State:Disabled; Requires manual activation by pressing the PowerON button for power supply during each startup.
- Automatic Startup --- Supports automatic startup of the Raspberry Pi upon power restoration, enhancing user convenience.
- Manual Power Control --- Long-press the PowerON switch for shutdown when the Raspberry Pi is in a powered-on state.
- Versatile Power Management --- Flexibility in choosing power input sources and output options for diverse applications.
Who might notice the difference
Battery-powered sensors and portable instruments
Low standby current and efficient power conversion can matter when a device sleeps for long periods or runs from a small battery. Whether a design lasts longer between charges has to be assessed with its actual sleep schedule, sensing rate, battery, and peripherals; the partnership announcement does not provide a runtime estimate.
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Integrated power features can simplify a custom board and support bursts of activity, but motors and other high-current loads may dominate a robot’s power budget. The microcontroller’s power architecture is only one part of the design.
Industrial products and custom boards
OEMs can evaluate RP2350 package and flash options alongside board layout, thermal conditions, supply continuity, and required analog performance. Integration may reduce external components, but it does not remove the need to validate the complete board in its intended environment.
Rank #4
- Intelligent System Monitor – Keeps your Raspberry Pi running smoothly by tracking power conditions and triggering automatic restarts to prevent crashes. Perfect for unattended or remote applications.
- Multi-Level Protection – Equipped with advanced over-voltage, over-current, under-voltage, and system protection layers to ensure your Raspberry Pi runs safely and reliably.
- Non-Intrusive Design – Installs easily on the back of the Raspberry Pi Zero series without blocking the GPIO header, allowing full compatibility with other HATs or accessories.
- I2C Interface Support – Communicates via I2C with configurable address, enabling easy integration into multi-device I2C environments.
- Custom Control & RTC Built-In – Comes with a real-time clock and a customizable button for flexible power management and scheduled wake-up functions.
High-performance Raspberry Pi computers
Do not infer that the collaboration applies to Raspberry Pi 5 or its RP1 I/O controller. Raspberry Pi describes RP1 as in-house silicon, but the available attribution does not connect Dolphin Design to RP1. Raspberry Pi’s RP1 overview is useful context on its silicon strategy, not evidence of Dolphin involvement.
What users can buy
The immediately relevant user-facing platform is Raspberry Pi Pico 2, built around RP2350. Raspberry Pi announced the board at $5 at launch; that is a launch price, not a guarantee of current local retail pricing. The RP2350 itself is aimed at developers and manufacturers designing their own boards, rather than casual users seeking a ready-to-use development board. Dolphin Design’s offering is semiconductor IP and design support for chip developers and OEMs, not a power-saving accessory for an existing Raspberry Pi.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFor a buyer, the practical question is whether Pico 2’s microcontroller, software ecosystem, GPIO and package choices fit the project—not whether the partnership announcement promises a particular power saving. Raspberry Pi’s announcement describes Pico 2 as a microcontroller platform, not a replacement for a Raspberry Pi 5-class Linux computer.
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