• Lenovo and Motorola announced Qira, a system-level AI assistant that is designed to operate across PCs, tablets, smartphones and wearables without requiring users to open a separate app.
• Built with a hybrid on-device and cloud architecture, Qira aims to provide contextual assistance while maintaining user privacy, though questions remain about adoption and competition in a crowded AI assistant market.
What happened: Qira assistant unveiled
At CES 2026 in Las Vegas, Lenovo and Motorola introduced a new on-device artificial intelligence assistant called Qira, which will be integrated at the system level across supported devices rather than functioning solely within a dedicated app. Qira will debut as Lenovo Qira on Lenovo products and Motorola Qira on Motorola devices, including PCs, tablets, smartphones and wearables.
According to Lenovo’s press release, Qira is designed to move with users as they switch between devices, maintaining continuity of experience and understanding context, preferences and task history over time. This situates it as a “personal ambient intelligence system”, which the company says can proactively offer suggestions, summarise activities and execute actions at the user’s instruction.
The assistant will operate with a hybrid AI architecture that prioritises on-device processing for privacy, while cloud support extends capabilities for complex tasks. Lenovo says user interactions and personal data will be managed with explicit consent and that the system is designed to avoid collecting data without permission.
Qira’s features include summarising information, helping complete tasks such as drafting emails, translating text, and providing contextual insights based on what the user is doing across applications and devices. The assistant can also support meetings with real-time transcription and translation when enabled, helping users catch up on key points when they return to work.
The rollout will begin with select Lenovo devices in the first quarter of 2026, followed by expanded support to Motorola smartphones through over-the-air updates. Lenovo is expanding its AI ecosystem through partnerships with other technology providers, such as Microsoft and Perplexity, to bring additional contextual and generative capabilities to Qira over time.
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Why it’s important
The introduction of Qira reflects a broader industry trend toward deeper integration of AI assistants at the operating system level, rather than as standalone applications. By operating continuously in the background and learning from user behaviour, the platform aims to provide a unified experience across a range of hardware, potentially simplifying interactions that would otherwise require switching between multiple apps or services.
However, the timing of Qira’s launch places it into a highly competitive AI assistant market, where established services such as Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, Apple’s Siri, and other third-party tools already have large user bases. Qira’s success may depend on how well Lenovo and Motorola can differentiate its capabilities and convince users of the privacy and usefulness of its hybrid on-device/cloud approach.
Privacy is frequently a concern with always-on or context-aware assistants, and Lenovo’s emphasis on local processing with explicit data consent may help address scepticism among users wary of pervasive data collection. Yet, in practice, the balance between local processing and cloud-assisted AI will matter for performance and battery life on mobile devices, and consumers may judge its practicality based on real-world responsiveness.
Another challenge will be adoption across device categories. Historically, AI assistants that span ecosystems tend to benefit from deep integration and a broad existing user base. Qira’s cross-platform design echoes that of competitors seeking seamless experiences, but it remains to be seen whether being present on multiple device types will translate into better user engagement, or whether fragmentation in features and partner integrations will limit its appeal.
The broader implication of this launch is that hardware makers like Lenovo are pushing beyond bundling basic AI features toward offering more ambitious, context-aware services that aim to keep users within their ecosystem. The forthcoming releases in 2026 will offer clearer indicators of how users and developers respond to this new category of on-device AI intelligence.
