Apple has made an announcement, suggesting that they plan on launching the latest iOS 11.1 updates this week. The update’s primary feature is the number of new emojis that it is set to arrive with. The set of emojis will consist of a whole new range of expressions and gender-neutral icons as well. According to a report by Daily Mail, it appears that Apple finally decided to add flags for Wales, Ireland, England, and Scotland. One could also choose from a wide range of objects – including trench coats, headscarves. There are exciting mystical creatures like genies, mermaids, and vampires that users will have the option to choose from.
Apple might celebrate World Emoji Day
The tech giant is speculated to celebrate the World Emoji Day this week. They plan on doing this with the addition of a greater number emojis. They don’t want to miss anything – whether it be male or female zombies. There are bizarre emoticons such as an exploding head smiley that is set to arrive too. This update will initially be provided in the form of public beta versions. Once successful, the final version of this update will be made available automatically to the users. In total, Apple is going to add roughly 56 new emoticons with the launch of the latest software. If the existing ones are added to the 56 new emoticons then a total of 239 emoticons are being formed.
Is Apple following Unicode Consortium's footsteps?
According to the report by Daily Mail, Apple is apparently following the footsteps of Unicode Consortium. The company released its 10.0.0 version in June this year. Their set of emoticons also included such animations – including fairies and pretzels. At that time, Unicode had announced that they have included a total of 136,690 characters.
The list consisted of four different languages, along with 139 scripts and 56 new emoticons of varied nature.
Popular chatting platform WhatsApp also plans on expanding its range of emoticons. They haven’t formally announced any such plans but WhatsApp users can expect an update regarding the same sometime soon. They are looking towards creating their own kinds of symbols and expressions.
Apple has an upper hand over these platforms especially when it comes to its iPhone X. The smartphone supports specialized 3D cameras that can create emoticons based on the owner’s expressions. The smartphone also boasts of Augmented Reality feature. Apple will launch the handset for sale in November.
