The squarish head/tail light design, along with the new brighter 17" rims (as opposed to the previous grey color), made a big difference for me going with the 2022 CX-5. I would've bought the CX-50 for a few thousand more just for the squarish look if they hadn't updated the CX-5's head & tail lights. I definitely would've replaced the rims if grey or black was the only color the 2022 model came with.
I previously owned a Mazda3 and I was getting tired of the circular head/tail lights, especially the tail lights. It looked nice for a few years a while back, and it still looks OK.. But it's just a really dated look for Mazda IMO specifically because they've been trying the circular tail light thing every year for a over a decade now on one or more of their cars.. and to me, it feels like a leftover design element from the years when they were still partnering with Ford. It's high time to move on from that era (look-wise), and aside from the real exhaust tips, circular shapes should be banned from the rear of Mazda cars entirely.
I avoided the current Mazda3 because of the ugly egg-shaped rear (side view), so I'm all for the more rectangular look of future Mazda models, whichever angle you're viewing it from.