Dubai: Apple kicked off celebrations of World Emoji Day by unveiling 70 new Emojis, to be released along with the new iOS update.
World Emoji Day is an unofficial global celebration observed each year on the 17th of July since 2014.
The word Emoji comes from the Japanese “e” meaning picture and “moji” meaning character.
The word has been used in Japanese since 1928 but according to the Oxford dictionary was first seen in English in 1997.
The Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, New York, holds the first collection of original Emoji that was created in 1999 by Shigetaka Kurita. And was first used on the Japanese mobile phones.
Over the years, Emojis have become more popular and the collection grew. They now support multiple skin tones and represent different religions, cultures, and trades.
“Many additional characters across sports, symbols, and more, will launch later this year, including a new superhero Emoji, a softball, nazar amulet, and infinity symbol,” Apple wrote in its blog post.
The new Emoji designs to be added to the collection will include more hair options to represent people with red hair, grey hair and curly hair, even the bold will get an Emoji now.
Also new smiley faces will be added that will bring more expressions to your conversations, from a cold face, party face, pleading face and a face with hearts.
A handful of realistic animals join the zoo of Emojis, including a parrot, kangaroo, lobster and peacock.
