ESP32-P4 Dev Board: Why IP101GA instead of LAN8720 for Ethernet PHY?

[spacyaldesign]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently diving a bit deeper into the new ESP32-P4 and its peripherals, especially the Ethernet interface.

While doing so, I came across an interesting observation:
On many older ESP32 boards or third-party boards (e.g., the well-known WT32-ETH01), the LAN8720 is very commonly used as the Ethernet PHY.
However, on Espressif's official ESP32-P4-Dev-Board, the IP101GA is used.

Now I'm wondering (and perhaps others in the community are too): Are there specific reasons or known advantages that might have led Espressif to choose the IP101GA for the P4-Dev-Board?

Can LAN8720 work flawlessly with the P4?

Possible considerations could be:

Performance differences (perhaps in conjunction with the P4)?
Power consumption?
Availability at the time of design?
Cost?
Specific features of the IP101GA that are particularly useful for the P4?
Long-term availability or support from the PHY manufacturer?
Or perhaps simply a strategic decision for diversification?
I know such decisions are often complex. But maybe someone in the community has experience with both PHYs in the context of ESP32/ESP32-P4 or has more detailed information on this. Perhaps Espressif employees also read along and can offer a little insight?

I'd be very interested in your opinions and any knowledge on this! It would certainly help to better understand and optimize designs with the ESP32-P4 and Ethernet.

Best regards

[ahsrabrifat]

Although the P4 only uses RMII today, IP101GA also supports full-MII (18 pins) if you ever wanted to migrate to a higher-pin-count interface. LAN8720 is strictly RMII-only.