Angular 18 New Features Explained with Examples: The Ultimate Guide for 2025

Angular 18 is here, and it brings with it a wave of powerful new features that every modern frontend developer needs to know. Whether you're building enterprise-scale applications or innovative startup projects, Angular 18 offers tools to enhance performance, simplify development, and future-proof your architecture. In this post, we’ll break down the top Angular 18 features you should explore today.

Why Angular 18 Matters in 2025

Angular has continued to evolve as a leading framework for building scalable and high-performance web applications. With Angular 18, the Angular team has introduced significant updates focusing on performance, reactivity, and developer ergonomics. These changes align with modern web standards and developer expectations.

Let's explore the headline features:

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1. Signals API: Rethinking Reactivity in Angular

What Are Signals?

Signals introduce a reactive primitive that enables fine-grained reactivity and better change detection. Think of it as a way to create reactive variables without relying on complex Observables.

Example: Reactive Counter

import { signal } from '@angular/core';

export class CounterComponent {
  count = signal(0);

  increment() {
    this.count.update(c => c + 1);
  }
}

This is simpler and more performant than traditional Angular change detection.

2. Deferred Views: Boost Performance on Demand

What Are Deferred Views?

Deferred views in Angular 18 allow you to lazy render parts of your template only when needed. This significantly improves the initial load time and performance of your application.

Example: Loading a Dashboard Widget

<ng-container *ngIf="userLoggedIn; else loading">
  <ng-defer>
    <dashboard-widget></dashboard-widget>
  </ng-defer>
</ng-container>
<ng-template #loading>
  <p>Loading...</p>
</ng-template>

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3. Zoneless Change Detection (Experimental)

Angular 18 introduces an experimental zoneless mode that removes the dependency on zone.js. This provides cleaner, faster change detection and improves performance.

Why It Matters:

• Reduces global patching

• Enables interoperability with micro-frontends

• Encourages explicit UI updates

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4. Component Inputs as Signals

You can now use @Input() properties as reactive signals directly.

Example:

@Component({
  selector: 'greeting-card',
  template: `Hello, {{ name() }}!`
})
export class GreetingCardComponent {
  @Input() name: Signal<string>;
}

This simplifies reactive patterns and makes inputs more flexible.

5. Improved Hydration for Server-Side Rendering (SSR)

Angular 18 enhances hydration support for SSR apps, which means:

• Faster time to interactive

• Better SEO

• Improved performance for Angular Universal

6. Built-in Control Flow Syntax (Beta)

Forget *ngIf and *ngFor. Angular now includes a new control flow syntax directly in the template.

Example:

@if (user) {
  Welcome, {{ user.name }}!
} @else {
  Please log in.
}

This makes templates cleaner and more readable.

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7. Typed Reactive Forms Are Now Stable

Typed forms are now fully stable in Angular 18, offering complete TypeScript support.

Example:

form = new FormGroup({
  name: new FormControl<string>(''),
  age: new FormControl<number>(0)
});

You get strong typing and better IDE support.

8. Standalone Components Improvements

Angular 18 enhances support for standalone components, making them easier to use in lazy-loaded routes and dynamic module scenarios.

Benefits:

• Simplifies app structure

• Reduces boilerplate

• Improves performance with better tree-shaking

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How to Get Started with Angular 18

Make sure you're using the latest CLI:

npm install -g @angular/cli@18
ng new angular18-demo --standalone

For existing apps:

ng update @angular/core@18 @angular/cli@18

Check the Angular Update Guide for personalized update steps.

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Final Thoughts

Angular 18 marks a significant evolution in the Angular ecosystem. From reactive signals to zoneless change detection and deferred views, the latest version focuses on performance, readability, and a better developer experience.