Can a line be drawn when it comes to diversity? Apple has confirmed today that the company is working on a more diverse bunch of emojis. That’s right.

Those yellow-faced (or white-faced) characters that you can place in texts and in emails are about to get a lot more ethnically diverse. Apple doesn’t think that existing emojis are tolerant of other ethnicities, since most emojis come from Japanese phone-carriers.

In a statement, Apple told press that the company was working with the “…Unicode Consortium in an effort to update the standard.” Wait – we are talking about emojis here, right? We sure are. Large yellow smiley faces are now being targeted as non-diverse. This is the problem that Apple has chosen to focus on. It’s laughable. But, it’s not the first time.

Apple’s Emoji Tampering Past

In the recent iOS 6 update, Apple made its existing emojis gay and lesbian friendly. Now, you can select from gay and lesbian couples if you’re looking for just the right way to say something with a smiley face. In this writer’s opinion, the whole thing is silly. Emojis may have a distinct Japanese feel to them, but isn’t that half the fun? Knowing that these silly smiley faces originated in kooky Japan? Isn’t that why we love them? Apparently not.

Apple has to work with the Unicode Consortium in order to change the standard appearance of emojis, since changing emojis without consulting the Consortium won’t allow the smileys to appear properly across all platforms – kind of like what happens when someone using a BlackBerry device sends you a thumb’s up (Y).

Apple doesn’t want its emojis to come out in symbols. The company wants to make it clear that you are choosing to represent your ethnicity with the right and proper smiley face.

Arriving Soon

Apple hasn’t stated when the new emojis will show up on the scene, but you can look for a new set of emojis soon. I’m guessing that the next iOS update will be complete with ethnically diverse emojis. So, if you’ve ever wondered why your smiley faces don’t look like you, have no fear. Soon, the world will be able to tell what ethnicity you’re representing when you send out that smiley.

I’m guessing that Apple is targeting the white-faced emojis that look like people rather than the yellow-faced emojis we all know and love. But, you never know. Apple might just be changing the color of those yellow emojis too. Soon, yello may become Apple silver. Or, worse, rainbow colored to represent the company’s old school logo. Either way, get ready for emojis via iOS to change.

What do you think about this? Is it really necessary (or a top priority) for Apple to work on changing the way that emojis look? Do you feel offended by white-faced or yellow-faced emojis? Some say that changing the way these faces look will render emojis less useful, but that’s just one idea. Let me know what your thoughts are – you never know, Apple might be reading this.