Microsoft Unveils Project Solara at Build 2026, an AI Agent Platform Beyond Traditional Apps

Steven Bathiche, CVP & Technical Fellow of the Applied Sciences Group at Microsoft, explained that a key feature of Solara is the separation of the end device and intelligence. Solara devices do not run AI models locally; instead, they function as lean terminals connected to a cloud-based agent infrastructure on Azure. This architecture explicitly distinguishes the project from Microsoft's concurrently announced Surface RTX Spark Dev Box, which is designed for local AI workloads with high computing power.

The technical foundation of Solara devices is MDEP, the Microsoft Device Ecosystem Platform, which is based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) – not Windows. MDEP is already used in Teams Room devices. In the future, devices will be managed via Microsoft Intune, authentication will run through Entra ID, and Hello for Business will use biometric methods like fingerprint or facial recognition. A physical hardware switch to mute the microphone is also planned.

Two Reference Devices with Qualcomm and MediaTek

Interaction with the agents follows the "Just-in-Time UI" model. The user interface dynamically adapts to the device, screen size, and interaction mode, so developers no longer need to design a separate UI for each form factor. Microsoft explicitly positions Solara as an open multi-agent system: companies will be able to integrate their own agents via Copilot Studio, the Microsoft 365 Agents SDK, or the Azure Agent Framework. The goal is not to lock users into a single agent.

Qualcomm and MediaTek are intended as hardware partners, supplying standard off-the-shelf chips. Microsoft showcased two reference designs. The portable badge device is based on a Qualcomm chip and takes the form of a typical employee access card. It is intended to feature a touchscreen, a side fingerprint sensor, a camera, a microphone array with a speaker, as well as 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GNSS.

The stationary device uses a MediaTek chip and is designed as a desktop companion, not a PC replacement. It is intended to have a touchscreen, facial recognition, a UWB presence sensor, a dual microphone array, and two USB-C ports. Via USB-C and an external monitor, the device can be used as a Windows 365 client; alternatively, it can be paired with a Windows PC via Bluetooth to hand off tasks between devices.

Pilot Partners and Industry Focus

Microsoft names healthcare as one of the core application areas. With patient consent, the Solara badge will record conversations, transcribe them, and assign them to different speakers before an agent stores the structured data in the patient record. Dragon Copilot is named as the intended solution for clinical documentation.

Previous Attempts with Agent Devices

Hundreds of Microsoft employees are already testing the concept devices in their daily work. An external pilot program with corporate partners, including AccuWeather, Best Buy, CVS Health, Levi's, and Target, is planned for the coming months. In the medium term, original equipment manufacturers are expected to develop their own solutions based on the reference designs for industries such as healthcare, retail, hospitality, financial services, and manufacturing.

With this initiative, Microsoft is building on previous attempts to place AI agents at the center of user interaction instead of apps. However, both the Rabbit R1 and the Humane AI Pin had not managed to establish this concept in the consumer market. Microsoft is now attempting to address the approach through enterprise pilots, clearly defined industry scenarios, and an open agent architecture, rather than focusing on the end-customer market.