Lenovo & Motorola push personal AI further with Qira
At IFA 2026 in Berlin, Lenovo announced that its Lenovo & Motorola Qira personal‑assistant will move out of the lab and onto a wider range of hardware. The move follows a limited launch earlier in the year that saw Qira on a handful of high‑end Lenovo laptops and a few Motorola smartphones. The new rollout targets three key groups:
- Lenovo PCs that have at least 16 GB of RAM – a step down from the previous “high‑memory only” requirement.
- Motorola smartphones that receive the upcoming Android 17 upgrade, including the latest Edge, Signature and Razr models.
- Moto Watch Ultra, the first wearable to host Qira, letting users invoke the assistant by raising a wrist or saying “Hey Qira”.
The company says the expansion will be gradual, with timing dependent on device model, market and carrier rollout.
Why Qira matters for UK Android shoppers
For UK consumers who are hunting for a new contract phone, the promise of a built‑in AI that works across a phone, laptop and even a smartwatch could be a differentiator when comparing carriers’ offers. Motorola’s flagship Android 17 devices are expected to land on UK networks in Q4 2026, and the inclusion of Qira could tip the balance for customers who already own a Lenovo laptop or who are looking for a seamless cross‑device experience.
Unlike many third‑party AI apps that rely on constant cloud calls, Qira is designed to run locally wherever possible. That means faster responses and, crucially for privacy‑conscious users, less data leaving the device. When a cloud request is unavoidable, only the minimal prompt and context are sent over an encrypted channel – a point Lenovo highlights in its press release.
New app integrations via Workato
Lenovo’s partnership with Workato brings a suite of productivity tools directly into Qira’s conversational interface. Users will be able to ask Qira to pull up recent emails, check calendar events or post a quick Slack message without opening the respective apps. The initial list of supported services includes:
- Gmail and Google Calendar
- Google Contacts
- Outlook Mail and Outlook Calendar
- Slack
The integration works on a permission‑based model: Qira can only act on data the user has explicitly allowed, and any cross‑app actions are logged for transparency.
In addition, Lenovo is extending Qira’s reach into Notion and the Perplexity AI research engine. This means users can retrieve or edit Notion pages, and even get visual research results, all from a single voice or text query.
Hardware focus: 16 GB‑RAM PCs and the Moto Watch Ultra
The decision to open Qira to any Lenovo laptop with 16 GB of RAM widens the potential user base dramatically. According to Lenovo, more than 80 PC configurations already support Qira, spanning both consumer and commercial lines. By lowering the memory threshold, mid‑range ThinkPad and IdeaPad models that many UK professionals already own could receive the AI upgrade via a simple software download.
On the wearable side, the Moto Watch Ultra is the first smartwatch to embed Qira. The watch supports voice activation (“Hey Qira”) and gesture activation (wrist raise). Early demos showed the assistant summarising missed notifications, pulling up meeting details, and even drafting quick replies – all without needing to pull out a phone.
Language support and future roadmap
At present Qira understands six languages, with additional languages slated for later in 2026. While the press release does not list the exact languages, English is clearly included, making the feature immediately relevant for the UK market.
Lenovo promises to keep adding device families and form factors through the end of the year, hinting at possible future integration with tablets, Chromebooks and perhaps even smart home hubs.
Privacy‑first architecture
Both Lenovo and Motorola stress that Qira follows a hybrid, local‑first architecture. Core AI inference runs on‑device whenever the hardware can handle it, keeping personal data under the user’s control. When a query requires cloud‑side processing, only the prompt and the minimal context needed for the answer are transmitted, encrypted end‑to‑end. Users can also toggle cross‑device synchronization on or off, giving them granular control over where their knowledge base lives.
Availability and what to expect in the UK
- Lenovo laptops – Qira will be downloadable from Lenovo’s website now and pre‑installed on newer models later in the year.
- Motorola phones – The AI will appear after the Android 17 OTA, which carriers such as EE, Vodafone, O2 and Three are expected to push in the autumn.
- Moto Watch Ultra – Already shipping in select European markets; UK availability is slated for Q4 2026.
Because the rollout is staggered, UK users should keep an eye on firmware update notifications and check their device’s compatibility via Lenovo’s support pages.
Bottom line for contract‑deal hunters
If you’re weighing a new contract on a Motorola flagship, the addition of Qira could give you a productivity edge that rivals Apple’s ecosystem‑wide Siri or Google’s Pixel AI. The fact that the assistant works on a Lenovo laptop you may already own means less reliance on third‑party apps and potentially smoother workflow across work and personal life.
For those who already use a Lenovo PC, the free Qira download could be a low‑effort way to test the AI before committing to a new phone. And the Moto Watch Ultra’s AI‑enabled wrist gestures hint at a future where you might not need to pull out your phone for quick queries at all.
Keep an eye on carrier announcements and Lenovo’s update notes – the next few months could see Qira become a standard feature on many UK‑available Android devices.
Source: Lenovo press release, 3 September 2026
