Hold onto your burrito: 37 new emoji are coming to your phone this year

By Samantha Murphy  on 
Hold onto your burrito: 37 new emoji are coming to your phone this year
Credit: Mashable composite

The Unicode Consortium, a nonprofit organization that governs the Unicode Standard, is previewing 37 new emoji characters that will come to phones in the near future.

So what's in store?

Enough emoji to express your excitement over a Mexican food night, to start, including a taco and burrito. In addition, there will be more food (e.g. cheese, popcorn, a hot dog, turkey), new sports symbols, religious-themed emoji and even a unicorn face thrown in for good measure. Five emoji skin-tone modifiers will also be added to the list of 37 newcomers.

The announcement comes as the Unicode Consortium released a new standard for its next-generation Unicode 8.0 on Wednesday. Not all platforms will include these specific emoji on future software updates, but the Unicode Consortium recommends its list as a guideline (it will be up to Apple, Google and other companies to create images based on this list).

Here's the full list:

Mashable Image
Credit: Unicode Consortium

Most requested emoji: Bottle with popping cork, burrito, cheese wedge, hot dog, popcorn, taco, turkey, unicorn face

Mashable Image
Credit: Unicode Consortium

More sports symbols: Badminton racket, cricket bat and ball, field hockey stick and ball, ice hockey stick and puck, table tennis paddle and ball, volleyball

Mashable Image
Credit: Unicode Consortium

Faces, hands and zodiac symbols: Upside-down face, face with rolling eyes, zipper-mouth face, money-mouth face, face with thermometer, nerd face, thinking face, face with head bandage, robot face, hugging face, signs of the horns, amphora, crab, bow and arrow, lion face, scorpion

Mashable Image
Credit:

Symbols of religious significance: Prayer beads, Kaaba, mosque, synagogue, menorah with nine branches, place of worship

It's unclear when the new emoji will debut, although they may be part of iOS 9's rollout this fall. The emoji will also be compatible with other messaging and mail platforms.

The taco emoji is a particularly big win for the Internet; the Unicode Consortium took suggestions from web users for characters it should add, and a taco was one of the most requested. Indeed, Taco Bell was among those who were most enthusiastic about the arrival of a taco emoji. The fast-food chain even launched a Change.org petition featuring the headline "The Taco Emoji Needs To Happen."

If these new emoji don't do it for you, fear not: There are 38 more coming in 2016.

Last month, the Unicode Consortium recommended a series of emoji to be considered for the next-generation update (version 9.0). Among those on the list are a face with a cowboy hat, a dancing man, a selfie face and bacon.

For more details on what's coming later this year, click here.

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