fix(select): only emit ionChange when value changes

[ShaneK]

Issue number: internal

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What is the current behavior?

In certain circumstances, ion-select emits ionChange every time the overlay is confirmed, even when the user picks the option that was already selected. The popover and modal interfaces don't have this issue because they delegate selection to ion-radio-group / ion-checkbox, which already de-dupe. The mismatch is in select.tsx: the alert OK handler and each action-sheet button handler call setValue() unconditionally, and setValue() always emits.

This contradicts the documented behavior ("Emitted when the value has changed") and is inconsistent with ion-input, ion-textarea, and the other select interfaces.

What is the new behavior?

setValue() now compares the incoming value against the current value and early-returns when they match, so ionChange only fires on an actual change. The comparison honors compareWith for object values and treats multiple arrays as equal when they contain the same elements regardless of order. Behavior across all four interfaces is now consistent.

Does this introduce a breaking change?

• Yes
• No

Apps that relied on ionChange firing on every alert/action-sheet confirmation, even without a value change, will need to listen for ionDismiss (or the alert/action-sheet's own dismiss event) instead. This aligns alert/action-sheet with how popover and modal already behave, and with how every other Ionic form control handles ionChange.

Other information

Preview pages (open the alert or action-sheet, click OK or tap the already-selected option, watch the console):

• https://ionic-framework-git-fw-6983-ionic1.vercel.app/src/components/select/test/basic

This goes along with the breaking change documentation in ionic docs, here:

• docs(select): document ionChange behavior change in v9 upgrade guide ionic-docs#4490

[vercel]

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
ionic-framework	Ready	Preview, Comment	May 7, 2026 8:46pm

[thetaPC]

LGTM