iOS 26 is not about Liquid Glass. Later this year, it will come with 9 new emoji as well, including Trombone, Fight Cloud, and more.
Unicode 17.0 Announced with 9 New Emoji, All Coming to iPhone Later this Year with iOS 26 Update
Emojis don’t appear out of thin air. There’s a proper consortium behind it that works round the clock to bring new and exciting emoji to our devices.
Yes, actual people decide what emoji we get.
The Unicode Consortium, responsible for all our emoji, has announced Unicode 17.0, which includes 9 new emoji coming to iPhones later this year with iOS 26.
The new emoji are as follows:
- Trombone
- Treasure Chest
- Distorted Face
- Hairy Creature
- Fight Cloud
- Apple Core
- Orca
- Ballet Dancers
- Landslide
I’m sure you’re wondering what they look like too. That’s why the Unicode Consortium has shared an image:
Do keep one thing in mind: the above image is just a reference to what we will get later this year. Apple is going to create its own emoji that falls in line with its design language.
Basically, you can expect the above emoji to be well-polished when they show up in iOS 26 later this year.
Also, there is a chance these emoji might not be part of the initial iOS 26 release. Apple might bring them out to all devices in a future update, such as iOS 26.1.
You can expect the same emoji to come to iPad and Mac with updates to their operating systems as well.
Given how Apple Intelligence exists, as well as Genmoji, which allows you to create your own emoji on the fly, I wonder how the new ones will fare. Just a thought.
