Apple details the end of Intel Mac support and a phaseout for Rosetta 2

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/apple-details-the-end-of-intel-mac-support-and-a-phaseout-for-rosetta-2/

56•airhangerf15•8mo ago

Comments

jshier•8mo ago

They won't do it, as they hate anything more than a minimal testing matrix, but it would be nice if, when the Intel versions of the system frameworks are fully removed, Rosetta 2 could be updated to include them as a downloadable component, so we could keep easy Intel support for those that really need it. It sounds like they're going to do something similar for games, where you can download a version of Rosetta 2 specifically created for them, but it would be nice to make them available for any app.

kemotep•8mo ago

I mean officially Apple no longer supports 32-bit applications, so it’s not a stretch to say they will completely drop x86 support. How many PowerPC MacOS apps work still?

don-bright•8mo ago

RIP TenFourFox. https://tenfourfox.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-end-of-tenfourfo...

orrr... maybe not! https://tenfourfox.blogspot.com/2025/02/february-patch-set-f...

k_roy•8mo ago

They won't do it?

Something something seventh incarnation. This is hardly the first time they've changed architectures. I'm actually a little impressed they actually held on this long.

Intel emulation effectively sucks compared to native apps in every way.

This is where we are.

makeitdouble•8mo ago

Docker still relies on Rosetta 2 on some parts, I wonder how it will go on that front

https://docs.docker.com/desktop/setup/install/mac-install/

While the documentation doesn't really dig on the issue, I remember it was needed for x86 emulation (if you're trying an older image of MySQL for instance), so I guess other platform emulation will be significantly harder from now on for Apple Silicon ?

placatedmayhem•8mo ago

I've nearly given up on using containers on macOS for development at work, because I frequently need to test amd64-only containers. One deviation from our production (Linux on x86_64) is bad enough, but two surfaces issues, or even annoyances, frequently enough that I'm likely to take a plain Linux box for my next refresh.

Removal of the parts that Docker Desktop or colima use to provide x86_64 hosting might just seal that for me.

(Remote dev is another option, but I haven't found that particularly ergonomic yet.)

magic_hamster•8mo ago

Rosetta 2 is pretty important for running amd64 containers on Mac. Removing it will be a big disadvantage. Why take something that works well and throw it away with no alternative?

JohnTHaller•8mo ago

Money

shepherdjerred•8mo ago

Who exactly is profiting, and how?

nimih•8mo ago

Presumably, you take the employees who were supporting Rosetta 2 and Intel macs, and you either move them to some other team or fire them, and now you've reduced your payroll expenses somewhat, which leads to a relative profit.

112233•8mo ago

I have not noticed apple caring much about pro users ever before. Aperture? Final Cut?

I mean, if they could simply kick out all studios that used final cut by making it incompatible, why care now?

dwaite•8mo ago

Why is Rosetta 2 used for running native containers on Apple Silicon?

My understanding was that it was used for running x86_64 containers within a arm64 linux VM, because it could provide hardware accelerated emulation for the linux binaries.

hibbelig•8mo ago

Your parent explicitly said amd64 which is the same thing as x86_64. Perhaps you misread amd64 and thought it was saying arm64?

seam_carver•8mo ago

Removing in macOS 28

TMWNN•8mo ago

I have one Intel app that I am absolutely dependent on

Gigachad•8mo ago

macOS has never been a good platform for running unmaintained software.

burnt-resistor•8mo ago

Forced obsolesce and incompatibility in the name of cute design and "progress".

What is needed is an app/infrastructure that doesn't just convert app temporarily but translates them permanently.

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