In Build 2026, Microsoft announced his view for the future of computing in the era AI: A platform that exists across devices and the cloud, has agent capabilities, and is always available to help you with your workflow.
The image is codenamed Project Solara, but it’s not just an image. Microsoft is already working toward that future, building a new, lightweight and secure operating system on top of AOSP rather than Windows, which it calls the Microsoft Device Ecosystem Platform (MDEP).
It is an OS designed to be invisible, with an Agent Shell that can dynamically load and adapt multiple cloud-based agents. It’s not a platform that drives traditional applications, but an artificial intelligence that can interact with services and tasks on your behalf through an adaptive login layer where the user interacts.
“To enable this new era, we are introducing a cloud-on-a-chip platform codenamed Project Solara. Designed from the ground up for agent-first experiences and the new device form factors they enable,” Microsoft technical employee Steven Batiche says. “Project Solara is specifically designed for the new era of agent-first devices. It defines the hardware and software requirements to meet enterprise needs for manageability, security and privacy while ensuring the delivery of critical user experiences.”
Because it’s one of the few areas that doesn’t require a large catalog of apps to be successful, Microsoft is the first to enter this growing new market. Windows Phone’s downfall was the lack of apps, but that shouldn’t be a problem for an agent platform like MDEP that uses a full-time UI framework.
“These new devices are not designed to run traditional applications. They are designed for agents. This change gives us more flexibility in the user interface, because the experience can adapt to the device, the screen size, the content and even the mode of interaction – be it visual, audio, touch or multimodal.”
The devices in question are conceptual at this point, but prototype hardware developed by Microsoft is already in use by hundreds of employees at the company. There’s a “Tag Concept Device” and a “Table Concept Device,” with the Tab Concept looking like a small touchscreen phone that fits in your pocket and the Table Concept looking like an 8-inch Alexa speaker.
“We’re using these concept designs to inform how to build these form factors and the platform. They will become reference designs for the ecosystem to build turnkey solutions. Hundreds of employees across Microsoft are already using these concept devices to improve their workdays.” Qualcomm and MediaTek is building the silicon that will power these agents.
For now, it’s unclear how Microsoft envisions these agent devices fitting into our digital lives. Will they replace or co-exist with computers and smartphones? Will people want to carry both a smartphone and an agent computer with them every day? These are questions that have yet to be answered.
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