Emoji always serves as a great incentive for people to update their phones. Android 11 just introduced 62 characters, but Google already has its designs ready for the new emoji coming with Unicode 13.1.
Given the .x nature of this release, there are only five emoji characters that are completely new, with all categorized as smiles and emotion:
- Face in clouds
- Face exhaling
- Face with spiral eyes
- Heart on fire
- Mending heart
Meanwhile, Unicode 13.1 introduces gender and skin tone variants for the emoji below. They all exist today, but with just the default looks and little customization. There are just over 200 new combinations in total.
- Beard
- Kiss: Woman, man
- Kiss: Man, man
- Kiss: Woman, woman
- Couple with heart: Woman, man
- Couple with heart: Man, man
- Couple with heart: Woman, woman
The Google variants were released online today but have not made their way to any phones. Given the very recent launch of Android 11 earlier this month, it’s not clear when Unicode 13.1 emoji will arrive. For Google devices, Unicode 12.1 (from May 2019) arrived with the Pixel Feature Drop in March. Today’s new characters could follow a similar launch in the coming months as part of a security patch or the next major release.
More about emoji:
- Gboard gets much-improved table UI for selecting skin tone and gender variant emoji
- Hands-on with Android 11’s brand new emoji [Video]
- Chrome OS 84: Easy split screening, more emoji & new ‘Explore’ app
- Google shares final Android 11 emoji, with ‘more authentic’ animals & dark mode-friendly designs
Author: Abner Li
Source: 9TO5Google
