Git 2.23 introduces a new command git switch -- after reading the docs, it seems pretty much the same as git checkout <branchname> can someone explain the difference or use case?

Two new commands "git switch" and "git restore" are introduced to split "checking out a branch to work on advancing its history" and "checking out paths out of the index and/or a tree-ish to work on advancing the current history" out of the single "git checkout" command.

Well, according to the documentation you link to, its sole purpose is to split and clarify the two different uses of git checkout:

• git switch can now be used to change branches, as git checkout <branchname> does
• git restore can be used to reset files to certain revisions, as git checkout -- <path_to_file> does

People are confused by these different ways to use git checkout, as you can see from the many questions regarding git checkout here on Stackoverflow. Git developers seem to have taken this into account.