According to The Verge, Microsoft has been redeveloping Microsoft Teams from scratch for some time, with the new version being called version 2.0 or 2.1, with the most significant change being the migration from Electron to WebView2, which is the same WebView2 that Microsoft Edge has.
This new version seems to focus on optimizing performance and reducing power consumption, especially on older PCs and laptops that can provide a smoother experience.
Microsoft has recently conducted extensive internal testing of this new version, and if there are no surprises the new version will be released in March, when the new version and the old version will exist at the same time, and users can temporarily cut back to the old version if they don’t like it.
The Verge said Microsoft has been working on a refactoring effort for years because they don’t want to continue using Electron, which takes up more memory and CPU while consuming more power
These circumstances led the Microsoft Teams development team to decide to use React and migrate from Electron to WebView2 to provide UI improvements and better performance, especially on older PCs with poorer performance.
Also by April, Microsoft Teams Classic Edition will be taken offline, the Classic Edition is a free version and after it is taken offline Microsoft will release a new free version to replace the Classic Edition.
However, many features of the new free version will be removed, so if users want to continue to synchronize and keep data of channels, chats and meetings, then they have to pay to upgrade Teams Essentials.