An APK teardown of the latest version of Gmail has revealed that Google is looking to bring HDR emoji to its chat app. That’s the successor to Google Hangouts, which is part of the Google Workspace suite, for those outside the loop on Google software. A specific code string in the latest Gmail build points to “Display-supported emoji in high dynamic range (HDR) with increased brightness and contrast“.
This feature is simply titled HDR Emoji and will likely feature brighter emoji characters with higher contrast for easier readability. This could be exclusive to custom emoji symbols, but the code also specifies that it is applicable to “supported emoji” so it could include the entire emoji library on supported devices. Google hasn’t revealed any official plans to bring HDR emojis to Google Chat, but it seems the feature is around the corner.
Via