Get ready for some new emojis! Apple debuted more than 70 new animated characters including food-themed graphics, with the release of iOS 12.1, which was rolled out on Tuesday, October 2, for the developer and public beta channels.
The new emojis, which introduce a llama, skateboard and characters with red hair, will be available to use on everyone else’s iPhones in the coming weeks and represent a diverse array of objects and characters.
This release was particularly fruitful for the food-obsessed, as it marks the debut of emojis for a bagel, salt, a cupcake, leafy greens, mango and a mooncake, which is a Chinese baked good that’s traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Historically speaking, food-based emojis tend to be among the most commonly used symbols. The pizza emoji consistently ranks as one of the most popular options used on Twitter, per Lifewire, and according to an infographic Facebook shared just ahead of World Emoji Day back on July 17, the birthday cake and beer emojis are some of the most widely used on that platform.
One emoji that still appears to be missing from the animated lexicon is the white wine graphic. While a red wine emoji has been available for years, white wine lovers still don’t have a character of their own to use, despite a recent 15-page proposal from employees at Kendall-Jackson winery in Sonoma County, California.
The lengthy proposal was submitted to Unicode, the governing body for international coding standards, and was selected for review by Unicode’s technical committee, meaning the red wine emoji may soon have a white counterpart. Still, in order for the white wine emoji to become a reality, members of the Kendall-Jackson team who worked on the proposal must go before a 12-person Unicode Consortium panel next April, which will then vote on whether or not to begin development on the character.
