Google is planning to retire another product in its lineup, one that has been around for a long time. Starting in January 2024, the basic HTML version of Gmail, designed for users with legacy browsers or slow connections, will no longer be available, at which point it will automatically switch to standard view when loading.
Compared to the standard view, the basic HTML version of Gmail is very bare-bones and lacks a ton of features like chat, contact import, and rich formatting. In a support page, Google recommends users switch to standard view to use these features on desktop and mobile browsers.
TheRegister first noticed the change and later asked Google to explain why it decided to remove BasicHTML from Gmail. The company responded as follows
"The Gmail base HTML view is a previous version of Gmail that was replaced by a modern successor more than 10 years ago and does not include full Gmail features."
Google has always been known for removing services from its portfolio with little warning, a recent example being the unexpected removal of YouTube Stories five years after launch, and the famous delisting of Google Reader, which even changed people's reading habits. A community-driven archive called Killed by Google has been documenting every product that has met a similar fate since 2018:
https://killedbygoogle.com/
Additionally, since discovery, users who are blind or visually impaired have stated that they use the Basic version due to better compatibility with screen readers and easier navigation. Google even inadvertently acknowledged the issue with canceling access to the page by providing a link to the support page for Gmail users using screen readers on the same page as the BasicHTML support page.
However, Google's products do not always stop immediately after making an announcement. For example, in 2022, due to users complaining that they were unwilling to switch to its alternative product, Google Workspace, Google chose to retain the traditional free version of GSuite for personal use.