Meet Project Solara: Microsoft unveils Android powered OS for running agentic AI

At its Build 2026 event, Microsoft unveiled a new operating system called ‘Project Solara’. The new OS from the Redmond, Washington-based company is not built on Windows and instead uses Android for powering ‘agent-first experiences and the new device form factors they enable’.

Microsoft's new pet project is taking a step away from the traditional interface of apps and screens by creating devices built around AI agents. The company also says that its new platform is designed for an ‘open, multiple-agent world’, while organisations using it can also source or build their own agents for specific workflows.

Steven Bathiche, Corporate Vice President and Technical Fellow at Microsoft's Applied Sciences Group, wrote in a blog post, “This is not just about bringing intelligence to the PC, the browser, or the phone. It is about bringing intelligence into the places where people need it most: in the flow of work, in the environment, and closer to the task at hand.”

As per a GeekWire report, the new OS runs on an enterprise version of Android that Microsoft developed called Microsoft Device Ecosystem Platform, or MDEP.

Reportedly, the idea behind choosing MDEP over Windows was to allow the OS to run on smaller, lower-power devices while providing management and security features that IT departments want, such as patching and over-the-air updates, device integrity, Microsoft Defender, Intune, and Entra ID sign-in.

Microsoft unveils two new Solara-powered devices:

The company also showcased two Solara-powered devices at Build 2026, but it doesn't plan to ship them itself. Instead, it calls them ‘reference designs’, which can be modified by hardware makers according to their intended purposes.

The first of the two devices is a portable badge-like device, similar to the access badges commonly worn by employees on a lanyard in offices. However, instead of simply acting as an identification card, the device packs a touchscreen display, camera, microphones, speaker, 5G connectivity, and fingerprint authentication via Windows Hello, and is said to provide instant access to AI agents that can conduct tasks like recording meetings and accessing schedules.

The second concept is an Amazon Echo-like desk companion device designed to sit alongside a PC. The device comes with a touchscreen display, facial authentication, microphones, speakers, and support for Windows 365. Microsoft says the device could provide quick access to AI agents, display priority tasks, and act as a gateway to Microsoft 365 Copilot without requiring users to switch between multiple apps.

“These new devices are not meant to run traditional apps. They are designed for agents. That shift 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, whether visual, voice, touch, or multimodal,” wrote Bathiche.

Microsoft says it has partnered with Qualcomm and MediaTek as the first silicon providers for Project Solara. The concept devices are also being tested internally, and Microsoft says it plans to begin pilot programmes with external companies like AccuWeather, Best Buy, CVS Health, Levi's, and Target in the coming months.