New year, new emoji.
The Unicode Consortium — a nonprofit that sets the global standard for emoji — announced on Wednesday 157 new emoji options would be coming later this year. The latest collection includes a cupcake, lobster, pirate flag and more expressive smiley faces.
Emoji will soon have a variety of new hairstyles, such as curly or bald, and more hair color options such as red and white.
There will also be more animals, such as a kangaroo, llama, swan and mosquito. More fun smiley faces include a “cold face” with dangling icicles, a partying face and a “woozy” emoji.
New superheros and villains join the lineup, and popular activities like lacrosse, knitting, sewing and skateboarding are also represented.
After Unicode releases its guidelines, software makers such as Apple and Google design versions for their respective platforms. That’s why emoji on iPhones look different than those on Android phones.
The new emoji usually begin appearing on mobile phones later this year. Apple typically previews its versions in June and releases them in the fall with the next iOS update. Android will release its emoji later this year.
With the latest additions, the total number of approved emojis will total 2,823. In recent years, Unicode has made a bigger effort to include more diverse skin tones, occupations and flags.
