Hi! I can share some info 
CS-Cart 4.17.1 is currently scheduled for July 2023. Its improvements aren’t as big as, say, editable vendor panel and onboarding from 4.16.1. Instead, they are more technical: “not noticed when present, but painful when absent”.
For example, a major shipping provider UPS has announced that they’re moving to a new API. Existing CS-Cart users can still use the old UPS API for a year longer. But to let new users set up a UPS shipping method, we have to update the integration as soon as possible — in version 4.17.1.
Another technical improvement is the support of PHP 8.1. We added basic support of PHP 8.1 in CS-Cart 4.16.1, but there was much more work to do. While it won’t make much difference on the outside, it had to be done, due to PHP version life cycle.
There is also the matter of Google Fonts and GDPR compliance (important for the European Union), and a lot of other fixes.
However, we did slip in non-technical, quality-of-life improvements:
- A more convenient field for phone number at checkout (and not only there)
- For multi-language marketplaces:
- Translatable fields are labeled as such in the admin panel
- Vendor name and address are now translatable
- Small improvements to the Upgrade Center. For example, you’ll be able to see which third-party add-ons aren’t listed as compatible with the new version yet.
Most of the above has already been done. But plans can change on the fly (like the sudden addition of UPS to our 4.17.1 roadmap). That’s why it’s probably too early to say anything about 4.18 yet. But we are considering a better “Accounting” page, improvements to rate areas, making the admin panel easier (especially important for vendors), etc.