Taco Bell: Emoji unfairly biased towards hamburger and pizza lovers
Creating a more diverse emoji selection wasn't as easy as releasing a new iOS update. The keyboard of illustrated icons is based on Unicode, the standard for text, numbers and emojis across all platforms. Emoji originated in Japan and were added to the Unicode Standard in 2010. Apple first included them natively in iOS in 2011.
"Apple supports and cares deeply about diversity, and is working with The Unicode Consortium to update the standard so that it better represents diversity for all of us," said an Apple spokesperson.
To come up with the expanded palette of skin tones, Unicode used the Fitzpatrick scale, which was originally developed by dermatologists to classify different types of skin.
Apple is also adding 32 new country flags and an expanded selection of family icons that include more same-sex couples.
The African app company that trumped Apple to launch first black emoticons
CNNMoney (New York) February 23, 2015: 8:56 PM ET