Microsoft unveils Project Solara agent-first device platform

At Build 2026, Microsoft unveiled Project Solara, a chip-to-cloud platform for what it calls "agent-first" devices: hardware designed to run AI agents rather than traditional applications. Microsoft presented Solara as a platform plus two reference device concepts rather than a shipping product line, with the company and outlets including The Verge, Reuters, Tom's Hardware and GeekWire covering the announcement.

Solara is built on Android. Its operating system, the Microsoft Device Ecosystem Platform (MDEP), is a lightweight fork of AOSP aimed at enterprise devices, with security and fleet management delivered through Microsoft Intune and Entra ID. Microsoft describes a "just-in-time UI" in which an agent's interface adapts dynamically to whichever device it is running on, shifting application logic toward cloud-hosted agents while keeping enterprise management at the endpoint.

Microsoft showed two concept designs rather than products it intends to ship itself: a stationary desk-mounted AI hub built around MediaTek IoT silicon, and a wearable AI badge powered by Qualcomm hardware, with screens, microphones, cameras and biometric unlock on the badge concept. The intent is to offer these as reference designs for hardware partners.

Microsoft says external pilots will begin in the coming months. Reported pilot partners include Target, CVS Health, Best Buy, AccuWeather and Levi's, spanning retail, healthcare and consumer verticals - the kind of frontline, task-specific settings where a single-purpose agent device could replace app-driven workflows.

agent-first endpoints are an emerging alternative to app-centric design, and Solara is one of the most concrete platform bets on the idea from a major vendor. By building on an Android fork with Intune and Entra management, Microsoft targets the enterprise IT requirements - provisioning, identity, security - that usually decide whether new device classes get adopted. For developers and architects, the model pushes complexity off the device and onto connectivity, latency budgets, data governance and the reliability of cloud agents.

the open questions are whether the named pilots convert into real deployments and which verticals lead, how authentication and data flow between agent endpoints and cloud services are governed, and how much inference stays on-device versus in the cloud. Partner device specifications using Qualcomm, MediaTek or other silicon will signal where the on-device and cloud balance settles.

Solara was shown as a platform with reference concepts, not shipping hardware, and pilot commitments are early. Specifics beyond Microsoft's announcement and launch-day reporting - pricing, general availability, and independent evaluation - are not yet available.