Angular v18 is now available! Here is the Summary...

1. Zoneless Change Detection (Experimental)

Angular introduces zoneless change detection, aiming to improve performance and developer experience by eliminating the need for the zone.js library.

Benefits include faster rendering, smaller bundle sizes, simpler debugging, and better interoperability with other frameworks.

2. New Home for Angular Developers

The documentation and resources for Angular have moved to angular.dev, offering an updated and interactive experience for developers.

3. Material 3 and Deferrable Views

Material 3 components and deferrable views have graduated to stable, enhancing UI consistency and performance.

Deferrable views help optimize core web vitals by allowing certain views to load only when needed.

4. Built-in Control Flow

Angular's built-in control flow is now stable, providing improved performance and type checking for conditional rendering and loops within templates.

5. Server-Side Rendering Enhancements

i18n hydration support and event replay capabilities have been introduced, improving the internationalization process and user experience during server-side rendering.

Event replay allows for capturing and reapplying user interactions that occur before the app is fully hydrated.

6. Debugging and DevTools Improvements

Angular DevTools now support visualization of the hydration process, helping developers identify and fix hydration-related issues.

7. Native Async/Await Support

For zoneless applications, Angular now uses native async/await without downleveling to promises, leading to better performance and debugging.

8. Partial Hydration (Early Access)

Partial hydration, which incrementally hydrates parts of the app, is in early access. This feature aims to further reduce JavaScript load and enhance performance.

9. Firebase App Hosting Integration

Firebase App Hosting now supports dynamic Angular applications, simplifying deployment and integration with Firebase services.

10. Minor Enhancements

Default content for ng-content is now available, allowing fallback content when no matching content is provided.

FormControl, FormGroup, and FormArray now have an events property for unified control state change tracking.

Route redirects can now be defined using functions, providing more flexibility in routing logic.

Updated support for TypeScript 5.4, bringing in the latest TypeScript features.

Community Contributions and Collaborations

Angular has seen significant community contributions and collaborations, including updates to popular libraries and new tools that enhance the Angular ecosystem.

Overall, Angular v18 focuses on performance improvements, enhanced developer experience, and better interoperability with other frameworks and tools.

Here is the whole blog: https://blog.angular.dev/angular-v18-is-now-available-e79d5ac0affe