PHP is planning to introduce multibyte support in its next release, 8.4. This feature will enable developers to work with characters that require more than one byte, such as Han characters used in languages like Chinese and Japanese. The new mb_* functions, including mb_trim, mb_ltrim, and mb_rtrim, will provide helpful tools for working with multibyte strings.

However, it's important to note that the existing string manipulation functions in PHP are not designed for use with multibyte characters and can lead to unexpected errors. Developers who need to work with multibyte strings should consider using the new mb_* functions or creating their own solutions.

Source: https://dev.to/spo0q/php-going-multibytes-3b3b