QGIS 3.44 has now been officially released. I downloaded and tried it out immediately. For Windows users, QGIS 3.44 offers both a test version with Qt6 support ("Latest Version for Windows (3.44) with Qt6 (experimental)") and the standard 3.44 version ("Latest Version for Windows (3.44)").
Mac users aren't as fortunate, however. The macOS version remains at QGIS 3.42. According to the official announcement, future updates will not be available as direct downloads for macOS. Users are recommended to update via MacPorts (refer to: "Guide: Installing QGIS natively on Mac M-series chips (M1/M2/M3/M4)") or simply wait for the upcoming QGIS 4.0 release in October (refer to: "QGIS 4.0 is Coming (Full Upgrade to QT 6)").
P.S.: This version (3.44) is also the last feature release in the QGIS 3.x line, paving the way for QGIS 4.0.
Changelog
Getting straight to the point, the main updates in this release are:
- Temporal Improvements: WMS-T layer groups gain a new option to expose time dimensions at their nodes. For raster layer temporal properties, users can now set a fixed date/time to infer the temporal extent.
- UI Enhancements: Ability to open specific tabs directly within the Message Log panel.
- Symbology Changes: The Categorized renderer adds an option to delete all unused categories for the current data in one click.
Labeling & Layout Updates:
- Two new settings for vector layer labels:
Label margin(prevents other labels from getting too close) andPrevent duplicate labels(removes duplicates based on minimum distance and case-sensitive matching). - New automatic wrapping setting based on a fixed line length (millimeters), preventing automatically generated legends from becoming too wide.
- Two new settings for vector layer labels:
3D View Features (Highlight):
- 3D scenes introduce an Earth globe view mode. Supports using any map layer as the globe texture, generates the mesh using the project ellipsoid, and can even be configured for other celestial bodies like Mars or the Moon.
- Fixed an issue causing camera jitter or feature displacement in scenes covering areas beyond 50-100 km due to numerical precision limitations in earlier versions. Enables large-scale 3D scenes.
- Point Cloud Updates: PDAL tools updated to v1.2, improving point cloud editing functionality.
Data Management Updates:
- Allows field customization when importing database tables.
- Supports case conversion for vector layer fields during import.
- Import filtering by extent or expression.
- Other Updates & Bug Fixes.
Trying the 3D Globe View
As the last feature update for QGIS 3.x, the 3D globe view is a major highlight. I tested it right after updating.
How to activate:
- Update to QGIS 3.44.
- Load your data sources.
- Go to
View -> 3D Map Views -> New 3D Globe View.
For example, after loading OSM data, enabling the 3D globe view looks like this:
Loading 3D Tiles
How to load detailed 3D scenes?
- Install the plugin:
QGIS Cesium ion. 
- Drag layers from your Cesium ion account directly into QGIS. This demo uses the default
Google Photorealistic 3D Tileslayer. - Create a new 3D Globe View again.
- Navigate to a city with 3D data (the official demo uses New York) and zoom in.
Summary
In my testing, the scene rendering was somewhat slow on my computer, but the globe view is functional: you can drag, rotate, zoom, pan, and explore the 3D environment. Others should definitely give it a try. Tip: If loading Cesium ion 3D tiles is slow, try configuring a system proxy (refer to: "How to Set System Proxy in QGIS").