It looks like linux-firmware now replaces linux-firmware-meta, however the package isn’t flagged as replacing linux-firmware-meta:
❯ pamac info linux-firmware
Name : linux-firmware
Version : 20260519-1
Description : Firmware files for Linux - Default set
URL : https://gitlab.com/kernel-firmware/linux-firmware
Licenses : CC0-1.0
Repository : core
Groups : --
Depends On : linux-firmware-amdgpu linux-firmware-atheros
linux-firmware-broadcom linux-firmware-cirrus
linux-firmware-intel linux-firmware-mediatek
linux-firmware-nvidia linux-firmware-other
linux-firmware-radeon linux-firmware-realtek
Optional Dependencies : linux-firmware-liquidio: Firmware for Cavium LiquidIO server adapters [Installed]
linux-firmware-marvell: Firmware for Marvell devices
linux-firmware-mellanox: Firmware for Mellanox Spectrum switches [Installed]
linux-firmware-nfp: Firmware for Netronome Flow Processors [Installed]
linux-firmware-qcom: Firmware for Qualcomm SoCs
linux-firmware-qlogic: Firmware for QLogic devices [Installed]
Provides : --
Replaces : --
Conflicts With : --
Packager : Jan Alexander Steffens (heftig) <heftig@archlinux.org>
Build Date : Wed 20 May 2026 10:22:54
Validated By : MD5 Sum SHA-256 Sum Signature
I didn’t notice it when I updated as I removed linux-firmware-meta sometime ago so that I could remove linux-firmware-nvidia - the rest of my installed firmware packages I had already marked as explicitly installed, so nothing appeared in my orphans list.