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