Due March 2021, the next Java upgrade targets a new metaspace memory allocator, support for C++ 14 language features in JDK source code, and a vector API

Java Development Kit (JDK) 16 has added two more proposed new features including strong encapsulation of JDK internals and a foreign linker API. Previously proposed features include a foreign-memory access API, pattern matching, a production-ready package tool, concurrent thread-stack processing for garbage collection, support for C++ 14 language features, and an “elastic metaspace” capability to more quickly return unused class metadata memory to the OS.

JDK 16 will be the reference implementation of the version of standard Java set to follow JDK 15, which arrived September 15. A proposed release schedule has JDK 16 reaching rampdown phases on December 10 and January 14, 2021, followed by release candidates arriving February 4 and February 18, 2021. The production release is slated to be published March 16, 2021.

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