It looks like Microsoft Edge is set to gain a major UI refresh in the coming months, as the latest Edge Canary and Dev Channel builds have started showing an updated interface that takes heavy design language inspiration from Microsoft's own Copilot app.
The new design updates things like the context menus, new tab page, and settings areas with elements that look like they were ripped right out of the Copilot app. UI elements now have much rounder corners, and use the same colors and font styles as found in the Copilot app too.
In our testing, this new interface design appears regardless of whether you have Copilot Mode enabled or disabled, with the only exception being the New Tab Page, which hides the Copilot modules and text box in favor of MSN news articles and Bing search when Copilot Mode is off.
Microsoft's Copilot app uses a design language not seen in any other Microsoft product until now. It first debuted with Copilot, and was a major step outside of Microsoft's Fluent Design language that it has been using to design products for the last several years.
Windows 11's design language, for example, uses Fluent Design, and is very different from the Copilot app. In a lot of ways, the Copilot app stands out as an outlier in Microsoft's design lineup, but now it seems this new Copilot design language may be destined for more than just the Copilot app.
Microsoft is also testing this new design language with Copilot Discover, an AI-powered version of MSN.com which we think may be codenamed "Ruby." This new design is yet to impact products like Windows or Xbox, however, though if Microsoft wants to unify behind a single design language, it'll need to consider bringing those platforms along for the ride too.
The refreshed UI in Edge is currently in testing with the Edge Canary and Dev Channel builds, though it's not appearing on all our machines just yet, so it's likely rolling out in waves. Given it's still in preview, it'll likely be a number of weeks before it arrives on the production version of Edge.
As things currently stand, Copilot, MSN, and soon Edge will look like they were designed by a completely different company compared to Windows, Xbox, and Office. Which design language to you prefer? Fluent Design or the new Copilot design language? Let us know in the comments.
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