Gmail API regarding OAuth for the 3 common protocols, including POP3.
OAuth 2.0 Mechanism | Gmail | Google for Developers
Again, I truly believe you are mixing up a bunch of things because we don't fully grasp which each means. OAuth/OAuth2 is an authentication method. IMAP/POP3 are email protocols. One does not replace another. IMAP/POP3/SMTP traffic are already encrypted. What is being updated is the initial authentication method, such that tokens are used instead of repeatedly sending credentials. That's A-Okay fine. What we are saying is that for Exchange/EAS, even if we upgrade to a client that supports OAuth/OAuth2, we are having the prompt issue or can't even setup the account. This suggest the consumer email accounts like Hotmail/MSN/Live and so on do not support OAuth-based Exchange/EAS. If this is the issue, then upgrading the client will not solve the problem. Upgrading the client will allow you to access via IMAP but that's not what we are after as most of us can have IMAP working now. And if I am reading everyone right, most people are after sync of contacts and calendar as well.
Let me break it out even more:
Exchange/EWS is used by desktop apps and EAS is used by mobile devices. Microsoft's publications indicate both support OAuth. Both are sync methods that support email/contact/calendar. MS indicate they are ending Basic Auth. In theory, all we need to do is delete the current account profile and re-add using OAuth. The thinking is new Outlook clients, such as Outlook 2021 will support OAuth. What I am saying is that even though the client support it, our issues seem to suggest server is rejecting OAuth for these account types or that they are not provisioned to support OAuth. If latter is true, then MS needs to make that very clear because it means we will lose such support for 3rd-party clients. On the flip side, EWS is not due to completely end until 10/2026 - that's a long time in tech world, so I rather have it working for the next 2 years, until Graph-based client support become available. If MS ignores all of this that there will be no contact/calendar sync until we use Outlook for Android/iOS app, then it will trigger people to re-strategize, such as moving their email/contact/calendar off MS and let it all go to iCloud or Google. These decisions will have an impact.