Apple has just rolled out the iOS 15.4 beta update which will bring a lot of new features. In addition to new features, this update will also bring many new emojis, one of which is causing controversy.
The new emoji that will be coming to iOS 15.4 follow the Emoji 14 standard which was announced by the Unicode Consortium in September 2021. There are 37 new emoji and 75 variations of the existing emoji, and all of them are of course modified according to the iOS emoji style.
Some of the new face emojis that will be coming include melting face, peeking between fingers, face with diagonal mouth, face saluting, and more. There's also a bubble emoji and a biting lip emoji.
In addition there are several hand emojis, including a hand making a heart symbol and an updated skin color variation for the handshake emoji. Several new objects are also present as emojis such as floats, X-ray results, empty batteries, identity cards, and much more, as quoted from MacRumors, Monday (31/1/2022).
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New emojis in iOS 15.4 beta https://t.co/BANvmer69K pic.twitter.com/uEDMEpnQWK
— Emojipedia (@Emojipedia) January 27, 2022
But what caught the attention was the pregnant man emoji. When the Unicode Consortium announced this emoji a few months ago, they said it referred to a man who could get pregnant.
According to the Unicode Consortium, the emoji acknowledges that transgender men can get pregnant and pregnancy is not something that exclusively cisgender women can experience. So this emoji is here to facilitate it.
Of course, the announcement of the presence of this emoji was immediately colored by controversy.
"Men can't get pregnant! It's a matter of fact/biology," said one netizen on Twitter.
"That shows something biologically impossible. We should believe in science, right?" another netizen said.
But there are also netizens who say the emoji shows a distended man who has drunk too much beer and is stroking his stomach.
"Emoji boy with a beer belly! That's so good! Thank you for representing people with a beer belly! Now we will continue to caress our stomachs lovingly while smiling like idiots," said one netizen.
Dozens of these new emojis will be coming to iPhone and iPad with iOS 15.4 and iPadOS 15.4 updates. Mac devices can also use these emojis with the macOS Monterey 12.3 update.
In addition to the new emojis, the iOS 15.4 beta update also brings other features such as the option to use Face ID without needing to open a mask.