Emoji Design Convergence Review: 2018-2026

10 days ago

Copy Link

Emojipedia predicted in 2018 that emoji designs would converge, leading to more uniformity across platforms.
Samsung made significant updates to its emoji designs starting in 2018 to reduce fragmentation and align with other vendors.
Apple's emoji designs often serve as the standard for convergence due to their early adoption and market dominance in the U.S.
Notable examples of convergence include the �� Pistol emoji, which most platforms changed to resemble Apple's water gun design.
Despite convergence trends, some vendors like X (formerly Twitter) and Huawei have deliberately diverged from standard designs for political or cultural reasons.
Unicode has played a role in resolving semantic ambiguities, such as with the �� Face With Hand Over Mouth emoji.
New emoji sets from Huawei and Toss Face introduced culturally specific designs, highlighting intentional divergence.
As of 2026, emoji design convergence has reduced miscommunication risks, but deliberate divergence remains for branding, cultural, or political reasons.

Hasty Briefsbeta