Apple updates headphones emoji to look like AirPods Max in iOS 14.5

Apple is taking an itty-bitty branding opportunity to the Max. The AirPods Max, that is.

Currently, the headphone emoji on iOS is a pair of black over-ear headphones. But that’s changing. On iOS 14.5, Apple has re-designed the headphones emoji to look like AirPods Max.

Major iOS updates often contain emoji updates, and iOS 14.5 is no exception. It won’t be available to the public until “Spring,” according to Apple. But Apple provided Mashable with a preview of the new emoji on Tuesday. They’ll appear in this week’s updates to the developer and public iOS 14.5 betas — and that includes the AirPods Max-ified headphones.

The company launched the AirPods Max — its first Apple-branded over-ear headphones — in December 2020. While they got positive reviews (including from Mashable), the charging case and their eye-popping price of $549 made the AirPods Max an instant object of ridicule. 

Maybe their emoji debut will help their image? From the mesh head strap to the thin yet cushy ear cups, the likeness to the real AirPods Max is uncanny. 

Here’s a picture of them IRL.

And here’s the emoji.

Since emoji look different from platform to platform, the emoji for headphones won’t be AirPods Max on non-Apple products, like Android phones or in Facebook Messenger. But where it could, Apple seized the ability to customize the headphone emoji to promote its own brand. Shocking, we know.

Some other new and redesigned emoji joining the AirPods Max on iOS 14.5 are pretty fun, as well as safety-oriented, inclusive, and relevant to our pandemic times. The new emoji for “syringe” will be way less terrifying and bloody than its current iteration, and rock climbers will start wearing helmets. There will also be a woman with a beard, a “mending heart,” and more iterations of couples, including partners in same-sex and opposite-sex couples who have different hair and skin colors.

D’aww.