Project Phoenix is a “testing ground” for testing new functions and elements of the Microsoft Edge interface
Twitter user WalkingCat has released a video with an internal concept of Project Phoenix — an “imaginary” version of Microsoft Edge in which the Microsoft User Research team tests the “viability” of new features and interface options.
Project Phoenix has been in the works since last summer, and some of its “parts” have already been tested as experimental features in test builds of Microsoft Edge. This is, for example, an updated interface with rounded tabs and other elements that should make the browser look like a native Windows 11 program. Also, at first, Project Phoenix introduced the “split-screen” mode, which is now being tested in Microsoft Edge.
Microsoft is also currently working on Tab Activity Center, a feature that will provide information about your browser usage, similar to Screen Time on iOS or Digital Wellbeing on Android. In addition, Project Phoenix focuses on integrating the browser more closely with Windows — including using it as a system-level password manager or setting up Edge together with Windows when a new system is first launched.
It is not yet known whether Microsoft is going to make a completely new browser on the basis of Project Phoenix in the future, an alternative to the current Edge, or whether this project will remain a “testing ground” from which new functionality will be gradually transferred to new versions of Microsoft Edge.