Angular 2.0 introduces several major changes from Angular 1.x including a component-based architecture, new data binding syntax, and improved change detection. Components are the fundamental building blocks and define a template and class. Data binding in Angular 2.0 no longer uses two-way binding and instead relies on property, event, and local variable binding. Change detection is also enhanced with faster performance for immutable objects. While Angular 2.0 introduces breaking changes, Angular 1.x will continue to be supported, so there is no rush to migrate existing applications.