Magento 2.4.4 will be released soon! – Here’s what’s new at Adobe Commerce

The most exciting part of working with good technologies is that they bring in better and newer versions than the previous ones. People love using them because they have added functionalities and advanced features every time they get updated. For example, Adobe is now releasing the newest version of Magento.

Magento 2.4.4 version is coming in March 2022. We have collated all the necessary information that you will need before starting over with the new version.

Magento is a widely popular eCommerce development platform amongst developers and software engineers because it carves the niche for itself by offering outstanding benefits to the users. If you are the one offering Magento Development Services, you must read this blog, because it contains everything that you would want to know about the new version.

The Magento 2.4.4 Beta Release

Adobe is now preparing for Magento 2.4.4 release for the Magento development. Once the beta testing is over, the new version will get released. And once it is released, you can download it from their official website.

Known for its seamless simplified predictable developments and upgrades, it helps various organizations to get quickly adapt to the changes. The Magento 2.4.4 version is supportive of PHP 8.1 and other substantial upgrades.

One of the major issues here is the readiness towards adapting to the new version. Even though it is fully loaded with new functionalities and features, Magento vendors will take a bit of time to get adapted to the changes. And that is why Adobe has decided to release four monthly beta versions of Magento 2.4.4.

The first version was released on October 18, 2021, and the last and fourth version was released on January 2021. Magento vendors were given beta versions so they could become familiar with the codebase and other features. If there is no in-house team to upgrade your store with the latest version, you can hire professional Magento upgrade service providers.

In addition, Adobe has presently kept the beta releases open to receive feedback and complaint from the users. They have presently fixed all the major issues before the final Magento 2.4.4 release.

So What is New In Magento 2.4.4?

Supportive To PHP 8.1

Magento 2.4.4 is highly supportive of PHP 8.1. However, not to forget mentioning here that Adobe will provide the support only after four months of the release. This is because they want the vendors to have enough time to learn and adapt to the latest PHP version. Please note that support for PHP 7.3 will be removed from the new version

PHP 8.1 will be considered to be the most important update of this language. It brings a lot of new features like read-only properties, enums, first-class callable syntax, explicit octal numeral notation, pure intersection types, fibers, final class constants, never return type.

The PHP 8.1 now bings in 23% speedup in Symfony Demo. the preliminary performances tests conducted on Magento with PHP 7.4 and 8.1 exhibits the speed of the latter version. The performance figures on a particular Magento setup differ as they rely on multiple factors. They can be server CPU, hosting environment, architecture, executed Cron jobs, installed extensions, etc.

Dependency on Third Parties

The latest Magento 2.4.4 will have many third parties to keep the store secure, top-notch, and add more features and functionalities. Some of them are mentioned below:

System Dependencies

• You will need the updated versions of ElasticSearch, Redis, MariaDB, MySQL, and Varnish.
• A new innovative, and highly advanced search and analytics suite from Apache 2.0 will be present namely OpenSearch. It is licensed Elasticsearch 7.10.2 and Kibana 7.10.2

Dependency on Composers

• There will be composer dependencies to advance PHPunit/PHPUnit and laminas/laminas code
• The latest Magento 2.4.4 will not have laminas/laminas-crypt, laminas/laminas-filter, laminas/laminas-i18n and paragonie/sodium_compat libraries

JS NPM Dependencies

The grunt autoprefixer will no longer be available in the new version

JS Libraries Built-in

• There will be a lot of improvement in jQuery, TinyMCE, Knockout, and underscore library
• The new version Magento 2.4.4 will bid adieu to Modernizr, eS6-collections, FormData.js, and MutationObserver.js library.

Vendor Bundled Extensions

Adobe Commerce will now separate the majority of Vendor Bundled Extensions from the core and will give quick access to the merchants to find and search features and other capabilities effortlessly and instantly. Adobe has now decoupled almost all third-party modules from the Magento core set. It has left out only the Braintree extension in the list of vendor-bundled extensions for Adobe Commerce 2.4.4. The extensions that are removed from a Vendor Bundled Extension list will be available for optional download from a Magento Marketplace

Updated Software Components

• All Project libraries and dependencies have been updated to work with PHP 8.1.
• Added ElasticSearch 7.16.1 and OpenSearch 1.1 support.
• jquery-UI has been upgraded to version 1.13.0.
• Deprecated methods have been removed from jQuery 3.6.x.
• jquery. tabs updated to the latest version.

Backward Compatibility

In news Magento, the backward-incompatible changes will be considerable implications on the third-party modules. Because they should work in a new way now. This is the list of extensions that are imposed to these changes. Find out the details below.

Inventory Check on Cart Load

In the stock options section of the new Magento 2.4.4, a new Enable Inventory Check on Cart Load option has been added. This has further enabled status and controls on the inventory check whenever the product is loaded to a shopping cart.

The inventory check needs significant server resources. To disable it will speed up the checkout at the time when the cart consists of multiple products. However, if the option is disabled, it may cause errors in the future.

TinyMCE

Three major changes to the Magento embedded content editor TinyMCE

• Now it is named TinyMCE rather than TinyMCE4. The editor becomes unavailable in the admin panel and breaks the Magento Page Builder extension. This amendment will impact the store if it uses custom TinyMCE with tinymce4.
• In requirjs or the Page Builder, the JavaScript file was renamed in any other place except PageBuilder’s di.xml file.
• TinyMCE MFTF tests have been refactored. The use of duplicated sections elements (selectors) and TinyMCE extensions in core tests will impact the store.
• TinyMCE4 MFTF tests have been refactored. TinyMCE 4 MFTF tests can affect the store if it uses or extends them.

Platform Enhancements

• There will be highly upgraded Adobe Composer dependencies
• It will now have an upgraded JS library
• PHPUnit will be upgraded to 9.5.x.
• It will also be supportive for TinyMCE.5

GraphQL

There will be improved storage performance configuration settings for store coding queries. It will permit the users to set a payment method on a negotiable quote. Some of the prominent bugs will now be closed in this new version like configurable child products, category hiding, differing website ID from the store ID, products unassigned to shared catalog, etc.

Bundle Products

• Will be highly supportive of adding bundle products
• Will offer fixed cron to create product categories for bundle products
• Will have an optimized cache cleaning algorithm

Cart and Checkout Features

• Magento 2.4.4 will now fix the issue of the minimum advertised price-link
• Will be supportive to guest shoppers for checkout option
• Will have a polished process of free shipping threshold for table rates

Page Builder

• The newest Magento 2.4.4 will have a good and improvised Insert/edit image positioning feature and Insert/Edit Link pop-up Windows
• Issues such as Text Editor for a banner are fixed up now
• All the dynamic blocks will not be converted into one language while the upgrade is going on

Wrap Up

Magento 2.4.4 will offer a lot of improvement in terms of performance and security for the online stores. Officially, this new version will be publicly released on 8 Mar 2022. So get ready to experience a great rollercoaster ride while preparing your online store. Provide a speedy and error-free shopping experience with a Magento-based e-commerce website to gain business efficiency and protection.

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