You can never have enough emojis, and a brand new batch of them are due to be unveiled on World Emoji Day this Sunday (July 17). Fortunately, you don’t have to wait that long to find out what could be coming to Emoji 15.0 thanks to Emojipedia.
Emojipedia has obtained a draft list of the 31 emojis being submitted for approval, and has created some designs to show what they might look like. While the site notes that the submissions are still pending final approval in September, what gets submitted is usually what gets approved.
Among the emojis being submitted are a shaking head, a wireless symbol, peas in a pod and the “pushing hand” which looks perfect for sending someone a high five in emoji form. No more using the folded hands emoji, and running the risk of looking like you’re praying.
Also in the cards are three new hearts — in pink, gray and light blue — alongside the sikh symbol Khanda, a flute, maracas, an antique fan, a hair pick, ginger root, a hyacinth plant and a range of new animals.
Those animals include a moose head, donkey, wings, a crow, a goose and a jellyfish. I can’t think of a reason why I’d want to send a moose head emoji, but it’s still nice to have those options. Especially if you live in an area frequented by the colossal animals.
Of course, the designs may change, and they will vary depending on which phone or app you're using at any given time.
31 submissions is quite a small number; in fact, it's the smallest ever according to Emojipedia. For reference, 112 new emojis were submitted last year, while 2020 saw 334 new emojis up for consideration.
It’s not clear why there’s been such a sudden drop, but maybe those numbers will swing back up in 2023. After all ,there are always new emojis that can be added to the list, like a wind turbine, acoustic guitar or a dumpster fire. That might end up being the most-used emoji ever with everything going on in the world.
2022’s new emojis will be finalized by the Unicode Consortium in September, and will likely roll out to Android and iOS devices in 2022 and 2023.
