New Teams Client for Windows in Preview

This report, originally published in Apr. 2023, was updated in Aug. 2023.

• A rearchitected Teams client for Windows is in public preview, with general availability planned for Nov. 2023.
• The new client will be more usable on less capable PCs, extend laptop battery life, and support simultaneous use of multiple Teams accounts.
• The existing Teams application will see few new capabilities, and its retirement is planned for late 2024.

The new Teams client application for Windows, available in public preview, delivers architectural changes to improve responsiveness and use less memory and disk space. The new Teams application also supports simultaneous sign-in to multiple accounts and Office 365 tenants, a long-awaited feature targeted at users like contractors or freelancers who work with multiple Teams accounts across organizations. However, the preview currently lacks feature parity with the existing “classic” Teams application, and versions for macOS, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), Web, and other use cases will not begin to arrive until late 2023.