Angular 12 Update: Expected Features and the final release date

The hugely popular Google-built web development framework, Angular is set for a host of improvements with the expected release of Angular 12, ranging from improved error messages to better integration with deployment providers.

While current version Angular 11 was released on November 11, bringing improvement to typing of common pipes and bug fixes that ensure TestBed isn't instantiated after the override provider; Angular 12 follows on same improvements with the offering of stricter types and better router performance.

There are several other new changes in the framework, besides the router performance improvements, and stricter types, which is added for DatePipe and number pipes to catch misuses, such as passing an array at compile time.

What's Expected in Angular 12 Update?

Angular 12 has some major improvements in the works such as ng build compiler command and the yarn build bundler command running production builds by default. The aim is to improve integration with several providers, like Netlify, Heroku, and many others.

Also, another prospective feature is the improved error messages, with top 10 errors having much more detailed error messages and docs. Other expected features for Angular 12 include:

Updated version of Ivy language service to provide improved type checking
Tearing down of the test module and environment after every test, which would significantly improve test speed
Trimming of non-critical CSS for inlined styles in Universal. Though, an experimental feature, it would be an opt-in or opt-out enabled capability
Debut of the ng-linker for distribution of Angular Ivy libraries to NPM. It would allow deprecation of the compatibility compiler and improve build time
Use of CLI strict mode by default for new projects

Additionally, there will be support for inline Sass in components, and Angular Universal will render Angular applications in the server.

Angular 12 Roadmap and Release Date

The Angular roadmap published by the development team cited new point releases of Angular 11 still in development, with planned Angular 11.1 release to boost performance and offer improvements for the compiler CLI, and language service, including bug fixes. While Angular 12 is scheduled for release in May 2021.

All major Angular releases are supported for 18 months, with 6 months of active support, during which regularly-scheduled updates and patches are released. With 12 months of long-term support (LTS), during which only critical fixes and security patches are released.