Stolen  Copied from Adam Machanic’s blog (http://sqlblog.com/blogs/adam_machanic/archive/2017/01/13/sql-server-2016-hidden-gems-resources.aspx)

STRING_SPLIT

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt684588.aspx

Aaron Bertrand’s performance tests: https://sqlperformance.com/2016/03/sql-server-2016/string-split

Session Context

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt605113.aspx

 

Time Zone Support

sys.time_zone_info: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt612790.aspx

AT TIME ZONE: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt612795.aspx

 

HASHBYTES

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms174415.aspx

 

Session Wait Stats

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt282433.aspx

 

Live Query Statistics

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn831878.aspx

Ability to attach to other sessions’ Live Queries!  https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/sql_server_team/query-progress-anytime-anywhere/

 

Actual Query Plan Data Enhancements

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/sql_server_team/added-per-operator-level-performance-stats-for-query-processing/

 

INPUTBUFFER DMV

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt652096.aspx

 

Database Scoped Configuration

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/sqlserverstorageengine/2016/05/02/database-scoped-configuration/

 

Increased Number of Index Keys

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143432.aspx#Engine

 

Increased Index Key Size

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/sqlserverstorageengine/2016/04/26/increased-nonclustered-index-key-size-with-sql-server-2016/

 

COMPRESS

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt622775.aspx