This is a bit odd.
Apple could be planning to remove support for its Rosetta 2 translation layer on M1-based Macs in certain regions with the release of macOS Big Sur 11.3.
Per code strings discovered by MacRumors reader Stever Moser, the third beta of macOS Big Sur 11.3, which was seeded to developers Tuesday, suggest that Rosetta 2 “will be removed upon installing this update.” Another string may advise that “Rosetta is no longer available in your region. Applications requiring Rosetta will no longer run.”
Rosetta 2 functions as a translation layer that allows Apple Silicon Macs to run apps built for Intel’s x86 architecture. It’s part of a suite of features meant to smooth the transition from Intel to Apple Silicon processors, a switch that kicked off in 2020 and is expected to take two years.
It’s unknown as to why Apple would remove Rosetta 2 support in some regions, especially given that almost half of all popular macOS apps still make use of the translation layer as of February 2021. However, the code strings in macOS 11.3 don’t necessarily indicate that support will be cut in that software update.
In addition to the strings referring to Rosetta 2, Moser also discovered code indicating that Apple could add the ability to map controller buttons to keyboard layouts, alongside other minor updates.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via AppleInsider, @SteveMoser, and MacRumors