The latest version of Next.js has introduced several features and improvements that drastically improve application performance and overall developer experience. By upgrading to Next.js 12, developers can take advantage of new features such as getStaticProps, next/image, API Routes, and NextAuth.js, which simplify the development process and streamline the workflow. These features enable serverless demos, efficient image loading, dynamic routes, automatic font optimization, faster builds through SWC, and improved developer experience with built-in TypeScript support and React Fast Refresh. By leveraging these new features, developers can create fast full-stack applications while ensuring backward compatibility and making incremental adoption to new versions possible.