Google began testing this layout in February and has been nudge consumers toward the choice ever since. Back in July, the new layout became opt-out (which means it swapped you over by default). But Google is now ready to make this change permanent, matching it with some of the other updates it has previously made to its Workspace applications, including as Docs, Calendar, and Sheets.
As someone who has been using the new layout for quite some time, we can’t see going back to the previous one. It took some getting used to, but it’s a lot more contemporary, and after we disable the other app settings, it seems like the old Gmail.
