Apple previews some of 59 new emoji launching later this year
Apple has previewed a small selection of fifty-nine new emoji launching on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch later this year ahead of World Emoji Day on Wednesday, showcasing a wider selection of disability-themed emoji, alongside new animals such as a sloth, flamingo, orangutan and skunk.
As selection of new emoji were shown earlier in the year when a final list of emoji was approved by the Unicode Consortium. Apple said within a statement, “To celebrate World Emoji Day, Apple is previewing a selection of new emoji coming this fall, revealing the newest designs that bring even more diversity to the keyboard, alongside fun and exciting additions to popular categories of food, animals, activities and smiley faces.”
The emoji, destined to arrive as part of an update to iOS, iPadOS, macOS and watchOS later this year, brings a large update to the Holding Hands emoji typically used to represent couples and relationships. – Users will now be able to select any combination of skin tone, in addition to gender, to personalise the people holding hands, opening up more than 75 possible combinations.
“Thousands of emoji are currently available, including emotive smiley faces, gender-neutral characters, more professions, various clothing options, food types, animals, mythical creatures and more,” says Apple. “New emoji are created based on the approved characters in Unicode 12.0.”