Here are 117 new emojis coming to your phone

Here are 117 new emojis coming to your phone

You might have thought there were more than enough emojis these days. But you'd be wrong: more than 100 new emoji are coming to a phone near you later this year, courtesy of the Unicode Consortium.

The organization announced today (January 29) that it has approved 117 new emoji as part of the final version of Unicode Emoji 13.0 for 2020. This total includes 62 new emoji and 55 gender and skin tone variations, as well as incorporating new gendered emoji.

For example, the emoji of a baby being fed milk is now available in many skin tones, including male, female, and gender-neutral versions. Emojis of people wearing veils and tuxedos also have gender-inclusive versions. Santa Claus is also called Mx. Claus, which, according to Emojipedia, builds on the 138 gender-neutral emojis added late last year.

In another step toward inclusivity, Emoji 13.0 includes both a transgender flag emoji and a transgender symbol.

Many of the new emojis, at least to me, an emoji-ignorant, I was like, "What, these aren't emojis yet? I thought there were already symbols representing pickup trucks, teapots, and piƱatas, but apparently there weren't - at least not until now.

Animals are a big part of the new bath of emojis, with idiosyncrasies that push the limits of usefulness: do we really need an emoji for the dodo, which became extinct 300 years ago? At the very least, an emoji will be waiting for it when the dodo makes its unexpected comeback. A polar bear emoji is also in the works, saving precious time typing "Help, I'm about to be eaten by a polar bear" without sacrificing accuracy.

Food emojis, from bubble tea to fondue to tamales, are also coming soon.

New emojis will be available by this fall, with the final look and feel subject to the whims of each platform.

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