On Wednesday, the Unicode Consortium came up with a new list offering a preview of the emojis coming this year. A total of 157 new emojis will be added this year, bringing the total number of approved emojis to 2,823.
Image Source: Emojipedia/YouTube (screenshot)These new emojis, part of the Emoji 11.0 release, will come to the iOS and Android handsets by August or September, the Unicode Consortium said in a blog post. Going by the past releases, companies like Twitter and EmojiOne may release new emojis soon after June, while Apple and Google usually parcel them with major OS releases in September or October.
All the new icons have been detailed in a video from Emojipedia. The new emojis include red hair, curly hair, white hair, and male and female emojis with different shades of skin. You will also get an option to choose bald emojis. Further, new additions also include popular activities such as sewing, knitting, lacrosse, and skateboarding. Along with human emojis, new animal emojis are also coming including mosquito, parrot, peacock, kangaroo and swan and much more.
“The emoji list being announced today is final, so that vendors can start work on this year’s emoji. We’ll release the final specification for Emoji 11 in synchrony with the Unicode 11 release, targeted in June. Users can expect to see support for these new emoji rolling out in the second half of 2018,” Unicode president Mark Davis told Emojipedia.
The Unicode Consortium also approved new emojis for superhero and supervillain in both genders and different skin tones. It must be noted that these emojis are not based on any real or comic character, rather show a person dressed like a superhero and supervillain.
New food-related emojis are also on their way, but junkfood outweighs the healthy options. New emojis in the category are cupcakes, moon cakes, bagels, leafy greens and mango. Further, there are new emojis for Science lovers as well, like Petri dishes, test tubes, lab coats, safety goggles and magnets.
Emoji 11.0 has also taken care of the demands for hygiene-related icons with emojis like a sponge, soap, toilet paper and a humble broom. There is a pirate flag emoji as well, surprising that the consortium took so many iterations to add this emoji.
The new emojis under 11.0 are final, meaning companies adopting them like Apple, Google and Microsoft can work on the design to perfect them to suit their design themes. However, these companies must adhere to the guidance set out in the official documentation. Not long ago, Google stirred an uproar when its cheeseburger emoji featured the cheese in the wrong position. The search giant later fixed the blunder.
A point worth noting is that Emoji 11.0 follows Emoji 5.0. This jump in the version is to ensure that the emoji release aligns with the full release of the Unicode Standard from 2019. According to a recent timeline document, Emoji 12.0 and Unicode 12.0 are set for release in March of next year, notes Emojipedia.
For the 12.0 release, which will be available sometime next year, the Unicode Consortium is already inviting proposals for new emojis. The proposals will be accepted till March.
