"Never" seems an odd choice. Until somewhat recently the recommendation would have been the now-deprecated "utf8mb3" for which "utf8" is a synonym.
Until the next release, when "utf8" is updated to be a synonym for "utf8mb4", yes, use "utf8mb4" directly. At the next release, you can use "utf8" again.
Comments
"Never" seems an odd choice. Until somewhat recently the recommendation would have been the now-deprecated "utf8mb3" for which "utf8" is a synonym.
Until the next release, when "utf8" is updated to be a synonym for "utf8mb4", yes, use "utf8mb4" directly. At the next release, you can use "utf8" again.