According to code discovered in macOS 11.3, Apple may disable Rosetta 2 technology on some M1-based Macs worldwide.

According to a tweet from macOS developer and MacRumors contributor Steve Moser, the third beta of macOS 11.3 includes a description that when installing the update in as yet unnamed regions, the Rosetta application The third beta of macOS 11.3 contains a statement that the Rosetta application programming interface (API) will be removed when the update is installed in as-yet-unnamed regions. This is bad news for those trying to run Intel-based applications on the ARM architecture-based Apple M1 chip.

Before we continue, let's break down the Rosetta API. In a nutshell, it provides a framework to allow emulated apps to run on Apple platforms that were not originally configured to do so. It is particularly important because it is related to the transition from Intel processors to the company's own M1 chip.

The M1 chip is based on the ARM RISC instruction set, which is nearly identical to the chipset found in smartphones. Therefore, macOS and Windows 10 apps were previously configured to run on x86 architecture instead of RISC.

Rather than forcing developers of cross-platform apps to reconfigure their apps, Rosetta 2 effectively provides a means to translate them to run on the new M1 chip.

Therefore, the removal of Rosetta 2 may prevent some apps from running on M1-based Mac machines. However, as of this writing, Apple does not appear to have disabled Rosetta 2 on any M1 Mac.

It is unclear why Apple would place any restrictions on Rosetta 2, but Moser said it could be due to potential legal issues. Alternatively, Apple could have embedded the message in the code as a backup in case it faced legal challenges or restrictions regarding Rosetta in the future.

Given that Rosetta 2 handles x86 emulation well and provides a much better experience than Windows 10 machines using ARM-based chips, it would be a shame to see this technology hampered by legal issues. As it stands, however, everything seems to be working well so far. [But if you want to jump on the M1 Mac, the MacBook Air, along with the Dell XPS 13, would be one of our top picks for the best laptop available today.