They may be in negotiations with some patent holder or similar, and just preparing for the possibility that they have to. Adding the strings is a few steps removed from actually removing Rosetta, so the title is misleading.
“If I pull this trigger—” ... let’s not play a semantic game. The simple truth is that a portion (likely a very small portion) of the market for these devices will view this as too much additional risk. In addition to the numerous other than normal first generation new hardware risks, Apple’s ongoing public issues with software quality, concerns about longer term control over their hardware/computing devices... and many other risks both perceived and actual... these potential customers have decided that for their individual concerns the math didn’t add up. This is a concern, albeit a minor one at present because as you correctly said it’s just the strings... but for some that’s enough.
