There's no difference.
He was depowered for a time( Mainly after losing the title of SS), so I think people confused that with some sort of retcon. Tom Brevoort himself confirmed that Stephen is the same even after all these years.
Well no official difference, but the way he is written in his new series, and much of the 21st century has been quite different than how he has been written prior to that. I don't think most people mean to say he's a different character than the one in the "classic days." Those who do are certainly wrong. But his personality (Fearless Defenders serves as one of many adequate reminders) and power have been handled differently, to the point that there's a view-able disconnect even though he is the same character.
So I see enough of a distinction that can be somewhat fairly defined by the era of comics. I just think people get too hung up on these classifiers.
In regards to his power, which most people tend to focus on when talking about the era he's being written in, as is the case of this thread. I think many don't realize being weakened in some way due to whatever circumstance isn't something new to the character. Even in what people would call the "classic days." Heck, for a fairly decent stretch of time in the 90s he has been greatly weakened from one thing or another (even giving up the title of SS for a time there as well on top of already operating at a lower level). In the more modern days he was handicapped again when he gave up the title of SS, however, even before this he has performed less (for lack of a better word) competently than before as a norm. But this is to be expected as he has been tossed around by many new writers (in a very different era) and he didn't have a series of his own. The worst of these, people like Bendis, tend to show a disregard of his history and just make the character whatever he sees fit (and his view on the character and magic in general is shaky at best). This isn't exactly something exclusive to Dr Strange as many characters don't operated at the level they once did (for better or worse).
So to answer the question. When he's not in one of those instances of being weakened, which happen due to plot. His normal self, I guess we can call it, there is still a difference because that's just how he is being written.
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