ZTE Unveils iMoochi at MWC: Labubu-Like AI Pet for Stress Relief

ZTE rolled out iMoochi at Mobile World Congress 2026, presenting five named variants — Cynomi, Hopami, Mimiu, Mogogo and Morin — as “tiny, cuddly, big-eyed furry creatures” built around expressive OLED eye screens and multiple touch and motion sensors. CNET’s on-the-ground coverage framed the iMoochi lineup as a deliberate emotional play, writing, “ZTE's iMoochi job is to melt your heart.”

Hardware details were front-and-center on the demo floor. Each iMoochi uses OLED displays for eyes that can blink, wink and show a battery charging icon when plugged in; the devices include multiple sensors to detect petting and movement and a microphone for voice input. Tech Yahoo and CNET highlighted a small wardrobe of accessories, noting “little dresses and suits” and calling the clothing “unquestionably adorable.”

Interactivity claims mix concrete behaviors and marketing language. CNET reported personalities that yawn when tired and react to “hunger” and temperature changes, and ZTE told the press that iMoochi “They even respond to ‘the feeling of weightlessness when playfully tossed in the air.’” CNET’s Patrick Holland captured both the charm and the skepticism at the booth: “The word 'playfully' is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that statement.” Holland also shared a first-person moment from the demo: “When I asked one for $10, its OLED screen eyes winked. I'm not sure exactly what that meant, but I took it as a good sign, despite the iMoochi not actually giving me any money.”

The product’s use of generative AI raises a key ambiguity in the early coverage. ZTE and the original show notes describe iMoochi as using generative AI to respond to voice input, while Tech Yahoo’s republication of CNET material states the device “can listen to you as you talk to it, using AI to ‘understand’ what you mean, though it won't chat back.” That unresolved discrepancy — whether iMoochi produces spoken generative replies or instead uses AI to drive nonverbal responses and animations — remains unclarified by ZTE in the materials shown at MWC.

ZTE positioned the iMoochi as a wellness-focused companion aimed at people seeking stress relief, explicitly targeting “young professionals and animal lovers who can't have pets,” and CNET placed the device in a wider context of companion robots that have long been used in therapy and wellness to combat illness and loneliness. The company’s consumer framing and the show demo left the device lodged between therapeutic precedent and mainstream consumer toy.

Availability details are tentative in public accounts: Tech Yahoo republishing CNET material stated the iMoochi “will only be available in Japan.” ZTE has not published full technical specifications, pricing, connectivity or data-use policies in the coverage available from MWC, and those omissions — plus the generative-AI vs non-chatting inconsistency — are the main outstanding questions before iMoochi moves from an adorable booth attraction to a verifiable product on shelves.