Apple's emojis, the little keyboard pictures that include smiley faces, hearts, and more, are getting a racially-diverse makeover, and iPhone users will soon be able to choose their icons in six different skin tones.
BuzzFeed reported that the cartoon smileys and non-human objects will remain the same, but for each emoji that depicts a person, the race option will be available once Apple releases the next versions of its mobile and desktop operating systems, iOS and OS X.
To implement the change, Apple worked with the Unicode Consortium, the group responsible for emoji standardization.
CNN reported that Unicode used the dermatologist-developed Fitzpatrick scale as a guide for the new skin tones.
While early feedback was largely positive across social media platforms this week, some negative feedback came from the Asian community, who thought the yellow-tinted emojis looked jaundiced and/or reinforced stereotypes.
By some reports, however, it appears the yellow color is not meant to represent a skin color, much less a race. Instead, some said it was meant to be a default, neutral color (possibly like the bright-yellow smiley-face emojis).
Particularly interesting is the new availability of a black Santa Clause — a concept some commentators like Fox News' Megyn Kelly have taken issue with.
In total, the new update includes 300 new emojis, including more icons for same-sex couples and households, more country flags, and an icon for Apple's forthcoming Watch.
Some online voices pointed out that redheads were still not represented in hair color, and neither was there a diversity in hair texture.