Apple changes bagel emoji, adds cream cheese in iOS 12.1 after pushback

Apple/Emojipedia

• The latest batch of new emoji, expected to launch later
  this fall on iPhones, includes a bagel. 
• However, a preview of the new emoji released by Apple
  drew criticism when New Yorkers and bagel fans did not find
  Apple’s bagel emoji acceptable, with some calling it a
  “monstrosity.”
• Apple has changed the emoji in the latest version of
  iOS to a more realistic graphic and has added cream
  cheese. 

Apple has changed its bagel emoji after commentators online
criticized the graphic, with some saying
the previous design “looks like something you get from a
cardboard box in the freezer section at Walmart.”

Although emoji are defined by Unicode, an independent
standards group, each tech company gets to come up with the
images it uses to illustrate the emoji on its platforms.

The latest batch of emoji coming out for people’s phones
this fall includes a bagel — and apparently, Apple’s
representation wasn’t up to snuff. 

Apple apparently heard the criticism, because in the latest beta
version of iOS, the iPhone’s software, the bagel emoji has been
transformed into a more realistic image, according
to Emojipedia, a widely-respected emoji resource.

Apple also added cream cheese to its bagel emoji, which is the
traditional bagel spread. 

Bagels are a Jewish bread that have a strong association with New
York City thanks to waves of Polish immigrants in the late 19th
century who brought the specialty item over to the United States,
according to
Encyclopedia Britannica. 

Apple is a California-based company that does nearly all of its
software development in Silicon Valley, which does not have a
historical claim to the bagel. However, there is a bagel
shop across the street from Apple’s old headquarters, 1
Infinite Loop. 

Bagels
at Bagel Street Cafe, a bagel shop across the street from Apple’s
old headquarters.

Yelp

The bagel emoji isn’t available to everyone yet — it will be
released as part of the iOS 12.1 upgrade, which will likely be
available to the public around late October, based on Apple’s
previous release cadence.