diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/components/messages/ThinkingMessage.tsx b/packages/cli/src/ui/components/messages/ThinkingMessage.tsx
index 8541f27110..d08a9c90e5 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/components/messages/ThinkingMessage.tsx
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/components/messages/ThinkingMessage.tsx
@@ -6,9 +6,9 @@
 
 import type React from 'react';
 import { Box, Text } from 'ink';
-import process from 'node:process';
 import type { ThoughtSummary } from '@google/gemini-cli-core';
 import { MaxSizedBox, MINIMUM_MAX_HEIGHT } from '../shared/MaxSizedBox.js';
+import { IconText } from '../shared/IconText.js';
 
 interface ThinkingMessageProps {
   thought: ThoughtSummary;
@@ -29,8 +29,6 @@ export const ThinkingMessage: React.FC<ThinkingMessageProps> = ({
     availableTerminalHeight !== undefined
       ? Math.max(availableTerminalHeight - 4, MINIMUM_MAX_HEIGHT)
       : undefined;
-  const bubbleIcon = shouldUseEmojiBubble() ? '💬' : '◆';
-
   return (
     <Box
       borderStyle="round"
@@ -47,9 +45,13 @@ export const ThinkingMessage: React.FC<ThinkingMessageProps> = ({
       >
         {headerText && (
           <Box flexDirection="column">
-            <Text bold color="magenta">
-              {bubbleIcon} {headerText}
-            </Text>
+            <IconText
+              icon="💬"
+              fallbackIcon="◆"
+              text={headerText}
+              color="magenta"
+              bold
+            />
             {bodyText && <Text>{bodyText}</Text>}
           </Box>
         )}
@@ -57,22 +59,3 @@ export const ThinkingMessage: React.FC<ThinkingMessageProps> = ({
     </Box>
   );
 };
-
-function shouldUseEmojiBubble(): boolean {
-  const locale = (
-    process.env['LC_ALL'] ||
-    process.env['LC_CTYPE'] ||
-    process.env['LANG'] ||
-    ''
-  ).toLowerCase();
-  const supportsUtf8 = locale.includes('utf-8') || locale.includes('utf8');
-  if (!supportsUtf8) {
-    return false;
-  }
-
-  if (process.env['TERM'] === 'linux') {
-    return false;
-  }
-
-  return true;
-}
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/components/shared/IconText.tsx b/packages/cli/src/ui/components/shared/IconText.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f23bb6a72d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/components/shared/IconText.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+/**
+ * @license
+ * Copyright 2026 Google LLC
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ */
+
+import type React from 'react';
+import { Text } from 'ink';
+import process from 'node:process';
+
+interface IconTextProps {
+  icon: string;
+  fallbackIcon?: string;
+  text: string;
+  color?: string;
+  bold?: boolean;
+}
+
+export const IconText: React.FC<IconTextProps> = ({
+  icon,
+  fallbackIcon,
+  text,
+  color,
+  bold,
+}) => {
+  const resolvedIcon = shouldUseEmoji() ? icon : (fallbackIcon ?? icon);
+  return (
+    <Text color={color} bold={bold}>
+      {resolvedIcon} {text}
+    </Text>
+  );
+};
+
+function shouldUseEmoji(): boolean {
+  const locale = (
+    process.env['LC_ALL'] ||
+    process.env['LC_CTYPE'] ||
+    process.env['LANG'] ||
+    ''
+  ).toLowerCase();
+  const supportsUtf8 = locale.includes('utf-8') || locale.includes('utf8');
+  if (!supportsUtf8) {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  if (process.env['TERM'] === 'linux') {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  return true;
+}