Why has Angular moved toward standalone components as the recommended default over NgModules?

Standalone components remove a significant amount of boilerplate, since each component explicitly declares its own dependencies directly rather than needing to be registered inside a separate NgModule. This simplifies the mental model for new developers, reduces the files needed for a typical feature, and makes tree shaking unused code easier for Angular's build tools.

// Standalone component, no separate NgModule needed at all
@Component({
  selector: 'app-order-list',
  standalone: true,
  imports: [CommonModule, RouterLink],
  template: `<a [routerLink]="['/orders', order.id]">{{ order.name }}</a>`
})
export class OrderListComponent {
  @Input() order!: Order;
}