CES 2026: Motorola is entering the wearable AI game

Over the past few years, tech companies have been scrambling to create a wearable AI companion that actually hits the mainstream. Whether that company becomes Motorola remains to be seen, but the smartphone maker is clearly looking to take a chance. At CES 2026, Motorola launched a new wearable AI proof of concept for guests and press at its Lenovo World Tour event.

I had the chance to see the device in action a few days earlier at a private media preview, where company spokespeople were careful to point out that this is indeed a proof-of-concept device. What they showed us works largely as one would expect for this category of hardware to work currently. Powered by Motorola’s new AI assistant, Qira, the wearable can identify and explain objects in front of you, summarize information, and even access events by launching apps on a paired phone.

Credit: Motorola

The device itself is small and minimalist, looking more like a large pendant than a traditional gadget. It is wrapped in a shiny, pearl-like shell with gently rounded edges and hangs from a thin necklace chain. A subtle Motorola logo sits near the center, while a small camera lens and sensor array are positioned at one end. Aside from a narrow slot for the speaker and tiny pinhole microphones, there are no visible buttons or screens.

In practice, it is on the verge of becoming an agentic AI. Rather than just spitting out directions, the device opened Google Maps on the demo phone and entered the destination itself. Some demos, however, seemed redundant – notably one where a spokesperson held up an event flyer and the device more or less repeated the text verbatim, with only minimal additional context about the speakers.

Still, Motorola might have an opening here. The bar for minimalist, wearable AI remains unsurprisingly low. Humane’s AI Pin fizzled out almost immediately, criticized for its limited usefulness and high price. The Friend necklace followed, sparking immediate backlash for allegedly borrowing its design from someone else.

Motorola has made it clear that this laptop is still far from a commercial release.

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