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In Figure 6-8, the controller and the pullups are set to 3.3 V, while the target device is set to 5.0 V.
In the I2C specification, there are minimum and maximum voltages required for a digital input voltage to be accurately interpreted as a digital high or low. For example, the SDA and SCL are interpreted as a digital input low voltage when the input goes below the maximum 0.3 × VCC. Also, the SDA and SCL are interpreted as a digital input high voltage when the input goes above the minimum of 0.7 × VCC. This latter specification is important for the mismatched supplies.
With the pullups tied to the lower supply of 3.3 V, the resistors are never able to pull up higher than the minimum required voltage of 3.5 V. In this case, neither the SDA, nor the SCL are designed to be high enough to be received as a digital high. This potentially prevents communication between the devices.