LAS VEGAS—Lenovo’s Qira earned our award for Best AI at CES for its bold vision to connect your context between your phone and PC. The day after the company’s glitzy keynote announcement at the Sphere, we conducted a private interview with Luca Rossi, a Lenovo executive vice president and the president of its Intelligent Devices Group.
Qira, pronounced “keer-ah,” is Lenovo’s answer to Apple Intelligence, with a cross-brand twist. It’s a personalized AI assistant that will be available in certain new models of the company’s laptops and tablets, as well as in smartphones from Lenovo-owned Motorola. For example, if you’re researching a project on your Motorola Razr while commuting, when you get to the office, Qira will pull up the same content and documents on your Lenovo Yoga laptop. The idea is to offer an uninterrupted experience, with the AI anticipating your “Next Move,” as the company calls it, and the Qira platform directing the AI to the right AI-computing resource for how you act on that, whether that resource is in the cloud or on device.
It’s a bold vision, and one that only a handful of companies have tried to pursue to date, notably Apple, Google, and Samsung. Can Lenovo do it better? What other device form factors might Lenovo have in store that would be compatible with Qira? Here’s what Rossi shared with PCMag’s Editor in Chief, Wendy Sheehan Donnell, and Executive Editor John Burek. (This interview has been condensed slightly for clarity.)
Lenovo Tech World at CES 2026: Everything That Happened in 8 Minutes
Qira’s Big Idea: One AI That Knows Everything You’re Doing
Wendy Sheehan Donnell (PCMag): If you were to describe the concept of Lenovo Qira to a tech-savvy stranger in under a minute, how would you describe it? What is your vision?
Luca Rossi (Lenovo): I would start with our position in the market. Lenovo is the company with exposure to phones, tablets, PCs, and wearables, and we identified an opportunity: that you will want your personal AI twin to have all the context of what you do, no matter which platform you are on. It could be on Android with a phone or tablet, or on Windows with a PC. But it can also be with your wearables, and all the data that your wearables capture.
Qira is our AI super agent that will serve as an orchestration layer. It will collect all this information, so we’ll know everything about you, and we’ll share this across all the platforms. That is the vision that we are implementing with Lenovo and with Motorola.
‘People will want their personal AI twin to have all the context of what they do, no matter which platform they are on.’
Donnell: Do you ever picture that ever going past Lenovo and Motorola to other brands?
Rossi: I think that we don’t exclude that at all.
John Burek (PCMag): In terms of Qira’s implementations in devices, how will you distinguish Qira from other cross-intelligent implementations from Apple, Google, and Samsung?
Rossi: Qira is a collaborative effort, with the likes of Microsoft. Microsoft was on stage with me yesterday. Copilot will be working with Qira and not competing with it. And we will expand our collaboration with some of the other names you may have in mind. We believe in hybrid AI. There will be workloads in the cloud, there will be workloads on the edge, on the device. But Qira will orchestrate what workloads are a better fit for cloud, and there will be a partnership with Microsoft, in this case.
John Burek (PCMag): What kinds of devices can run Qira, from a technical perspective? Does it require a certain CPU, or only work on 2026 models and newer? What are the parameters? Like, might a 2024 or 2025 ThinkPad work with Qira?
Rossi: It’s a question that would require us to go deep on the technical side. But I will say: Qira will not be available on all devices on day one. We will start to ship it on certain new devices that are capable from the performance point of view and from the memory size point of view.
But two things are happening. On one hand, Qira will be continuing to evolve. And with that evolution, we will work so that the technical requirements are lowering. That is one front. On the other side, the technology continues to improve, so we envision that Qira will expand its availability to more and more devices over time. But in the very beginning, it will be on new devices, and of a certain class.
Going forward, you can expect Qira to continue to evolve, if not every month, every quarter, with over-the-air updates. That will expand the kind of devices on which it can run: notebook, phone, and then wearable, which is probably a little bit of a different topic.
‘Copilot will be working with Qira and not competing with it.’
Donnell: Can we dive into wearables? So, the pendant [the Motorola Maxwell AI pin] was pretty cool. I like what you’re doing there. When do you think that will launch?
Rossi: We don’t have a launch date; it’s a proof of concept. But it is a proof of concept that we believe is very viable from a technical perspective. We think it’s possible to manufacture it at scale with a reasonable price and with good performance. But it’s not coming imminently.
In parallel with that Project Maxwell, which is the pendant you are referring to, we are also exploring other wearable devices because we believe that with this vision of a personal AI twin, more and more sensing devices will be required by the user. We showcased smart glasses yesterday, too, but we are not limited to that. We have other ideas we are prototyping, and whenever the time is right, we will announce what’s for sale.
Donnell: I was thinking you could also extend Qira into the car.
Rossi: Yes, there is no limit to, theoretically, what we can think about!
The AI Arms Race Inside Your Laptop
Burek: Backtracking to the requirements, let’s talk about laptops. Very robust neural processing units (NPUs) are emerging across the board from all major mobile chip manufacturers. How crucial do you find the presence of a discrete, stronger NPU to Qira, in the near term, as well as further out?
Rossi: NPU is something that is evolving very rapidly. We started two years ago with 10 or 11 Tera Operations Per Second (TOPS), then all the way to 40, and you will probably see 100 TOPS NPUs [soon]. Is it important for Qira? Yes, but it’s even more important for the development of the AI PC, because more and more applications will leverage the NPU to offer new kinds of experiences, and there will start to be a TOPS shortage! So having strong NPUs is good for Qira, but it will also be good and necessary for the broader AI PC ecosystem.
Burek: So it may be like asking if any of your siblings is your favorite, but are there any of the major platforms (Ryzen AI 300/400, Intel Panther Lake, Snapdragon X) that is best suited for what you are trying to do with Qira?
Rossi: No, we are platform agnostic. It runs on all the very modern silicon from all those names you have mentioned.
(Credit: Celso Bulgatti)
Burek: Is there any aspect of any of those platforms that you would like to see those chipmakers develop further that would help you get Qira to where you want it to be? Like, more than just more TOPS?
Rossi: Yes, we are having a technical dialogue with all silicon makers to make sure that we leverage those NPUs in the best way, with the best power efficiency. Power is very important, [such as] having a long battery life.
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Why Lenovo Thinks Wearables Are Qira’s Real Endgame
Burek: A question specifically about wearables. You mentioned earlier on that they would be further out in terms of evolution. What are the challenges they pose to a system like Qira? Is it the density of compute on wearables?
Rossi: For Lenovo, this is an important plan. We believe that, in the future, there will be many more wearable opportunities than before, simply because you will want to capture more data. So, the necklace is one example. Glasses are another, and we have other things in mind.
You asked me about major challenges. Power. Making sure you have a small, light form factor, but at the same time, you need long battery life and a lot of computing power. That’s probably the biggest challenge for the entire industry for now.
(Credit: Celso Bulgatti)
Burek: Right, and for something like a ring, there’s only so much you can do.
Rossi: Yes, the ring is an example. We don’t do rings, but it’s so small and so tiny that putting enough computing power is basically, as of today, impossible. Will it be possible in three years? Probably, yes. Things are evolving very fast.
Burek: Do you see other form factors that evolve from rings, smartphones, or glasses that we don’t see today? Ones that resemble what we see today—necklace pendants might be one, or even something like a headlamp—but that your research suggests could be something we carry with us in the future, like we do a smartphone today?
Rossi: Obviously, there are many ideas. Some are in our labs. We present them when we believe they have potential commercial viability. There might be ideas in the lab, but then someone finally makes a checklist and says okay, that’s a “no.” So we only talk about them when we feel this could happen in a reasonable timeframe. And that is the case with Project Maxwell.
Switching from wearables, but still in the area of sensing devices: I think there is also an opportunity for ambient AI sensing devices. It’s not a wearable; it’s something that is on your desk, on your wall, in your garden. There is a lot of opportunity for those devices, and we are looking at this area.
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Burek: When you’re dealing with devices like a ring or a pendant, you’re transferring a large amount of data back to a phone, laptop, or some other place to be processed. Will the existing local connectivity technologies available to those devices still be adequate within three or four years? Do we need to see a new Bluetooth, or something like that?
Rossi: For what is available now, what we have is sufficient. There is also a roadmap for the evolution of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. So I don’t see this as a major constraint going forward.
‘I think there is also an opportunity for ambient AI sensing devices. It’s not a wearable; it’s something that is on your desk, on your wall, in your garden.’
When Your AI Knows Everything, Who Else Is in the Loop?
Donnell: One issue comes up—security—when we talk about devices that are walking around the world with you and capturing everything you do. It came up at your keynote last night as well: “with your permission.” How do you think people will feel about sharing everything they’re doing, all of the time, to achieve the kind of synergy you imagine with Qira?
Rossi: I’m smiling because when you started to talk, I was already thinking about where you were going. This is a very important topic, and that’s why we stressed “with your permission” multiple times yesterday during our keynote. I don’t think there’s a perfect answer here.
The thing I know for sure: We will make sure the user has crystal-clear visibility of which data stays in their device, and which data they want or permit to go out of their device. There will be multiple filters to enable this, so the transparency, the visibility, and the safety will be our number one priority.
Obviously, there is a larger topic that goes beyond our devices, and goes beyond what we do: That is, will other people agree or disagree? When you carry a device like that, it’s not just that you agreed for your data, it’s also, what about the other people? That’s a larger topic that may be regulated, or maybe not. We will see.
(Credit: Celso Bulgatti)
Donnell: Right, you’re not the only one facing that problem.
Rossi: No, we aren’t. Today, we are already facing this problem. You’re going around with a phone with a camera, and what can you do? You can break the privacy of everyone, if you wish. It’s not a new situation, so to say.
Burek: One thing that came to my mind when you were saying that: the concept of a “bubble of permissions” around the wearer or device user. I could see a world where, when you’re in your own zone, you’re transmitting a set of permissions around yourself that interact with other sensors. It would allow or disallow transmission of audio or video from other people.
Rossi: That’s a very interesting concept, and probably a good reflection.
Lenovo Hits the Track (and the Pitch)
Donnell: I thought I’d ask: Since you’re sitting in front of an F1 car…can you tell us what Lenovo is doing for F1 and the World Cup?
Rossi: Our partnership with F1 is a phenomenal success. We started this a couple of years ago. There are two aspects. The most important one is that we are now helping Formula One with a lot of our technology. They run all their data with our systems. Now, with liquid cooling, we have enabled them, with infrastructure, to reduce the amount of space used by all their technology. They were, maybe, going around with two trucks. Now only one truck is sufficient.
This is just an example. There are many proof of concepts that we test with them under extreme conditions, and they inspire us for other things that could go into mass production.
That is a technical aspect. Then, there is a branding aspect. Over the last three or four years, Lenovo has become a major branding entity in this sport, with its emphasis on affinity, performance, quality, reliability, and resilience. They have massively helped our brand gain reputation and awareness among billions of people.
Donnell: And in 2026, the World Cup comes to America. You can’t get a better event.
Rossi: Yes! There are similar things there. There’s a technology front where we are helping them with data. Think about all the things happening with data, it is just the beginning. And there is a marketing element that is equally important.
About Our Experts
Wendy Sheehan Donnell
Editor-in-Chief, PCMag / VP of Content, Ziff Davis
Experience
I’m the Editor-in-Chief of PCMag.com and the Vice President of Content for Ziff Davis. I oversee the editorial operations of PCMag and ExtremeTech.com, leading more than 65 writers, editors, and contributors, steering PC Labs, reviews, and product coverage, as well as news, expert commentary, and service journalism across the sites.
Back when the first iPhone was released, I started at PCMag as a senior editor covering consumer electronics and mobile reviews. After that, I went on to head up the reviews team as executive editor. And most recently I served as deputy editor, managing PCMag’s editorial team and day-to-day operations. I’ve covered more product releases and have edited more reviews, roundups, and buying guides than any human reasonably should, each and every one contributing to the noble pursuit of helping you find the right technology to fit your life.
Before joining PCMag, I was the managing editor of Computer Shopper. I earned my master’s degree in magazine journalism from New York University. (Nope, the irony of witnessing the deaths of both of the print magazines I’ve managed is not lost on me.)
Though I rarely have the opportunity to write these days, I still crave the rush that comes from crafting the perfect headline and enjoy nothing more than a spirited AP Style debate.
In my quarter-century-long journalism career, my main areas of focus have been mobile technology and electronics, but I’ve managed to cover most aspects of consumer and business technology. These days, I spend most of my time strategizing in endless video calls. I’m an ace at sharing my screen and telling people who are already speaking that they’re muted.
I’m a Mac. Always have been, since my family got our first computer, the Apple IIe, in the early ’80s. More irony: I was the first staff editor to use an Apple computer instead of a PC to edit reviews for PCMag. Today, my main computers are a Mac Studio with Pro Display and a 13-inch MacBook Pro. I’ve carried an iPhone since 2008, and proudly display the click-wheel iPod in my office. My 12-year old stole my iPad a long time ago and now he’s eyeing my AirPods. I have more smart devices installed in my home than most people on the planet, and I drive an electric Mini Cooper SE and have become mildly obsessed with EV charging. There’s a video game museum in my basement.
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John Burek
Executive Editor and PC Labs Director
Experience
I have been a technology journalist for almost 30 years and have covered just about every kind of computer gear—from the 386SX to 64-core processors—in my long tenure as an editor, a writer, and an advice columnist. For almost a quarter-century, I worked on the seminal, gigantic Computer Shopper magazine (and later, its digital counterpart), aka the phone book for PC buyers, and the nemesis of every postal delivery person. I was Computer Shopper’s editor in chief for its final nine years, after which much of its digital content was folded into PCMag.com. I also served, briefly, as the editor in chief of the well-known hard-core tech site Tom’s Hardware.
During that time, I’ve built and torn down enough desktop PCs to equip a city block’s worth of internet cafes. Under race conditions, I’ve built PCs from bare-board to bootup in under 5 minutes. I never met a screwdriver I didn’t like.
I was also a copy chief and a fact checker early in my career. (Editing and polishing technical content to make it palatable for consumer audiences is my forte.) I also worked as an editor of scholarly science books, and as an editor of “Dummies”-style computer guidebooks for Brady Books (now, BradyGames). I’m a lifetime New Yorker, a graduate of New York University’s journalism program, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
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