Desktop Computer Emoji

The desktop computer emoji (🖥️) shows a monitor on a stand, the classic stationary PC that defined computing for four decades. It's the emoji of serious setups: gaming rigs, workstations, coding dens, the machine you sit down at with intent. In a world that has largely moved to laptops and phones, 🖥️ carries a specific flavor of commitment. You don't take it to a cafe, you build a whole room around it.

It was approved in Unicode 7.0 in 2014 and added to Emoji 1.0 in 2015, part of a batch that filled obvious gaps in the office tech set. Most vendors draw it as a monitor only. Apple's design leans iMac, Google and WhatsApp tack on a keyboard, and Microsoft's older versions included a PC tower before simplifying to a display. The glyph disagrees with itself depending on your keyboard.

It sits inside a small family of desktop tech emojis: 💻 (laptop), 🖨️ (printer), 📀 (DVD), and 🔌 (electric plug). Together they form the workstation.

🖥️ shows up in three main places. First, PC gaming, where it's a flex: "new build 🖥️", "finally upgraded 🖥️🎮", "34" ultrawide 🖥️". Second, work-from-home setup culture, where it captions desk tour posts and #desksetup content on TikTok (4.8M+ posts). Third, developer culture, where it pairs with 👨‍💻 or 🧑‍💻 to signal coding work. The distinction from 💻 is real: 🖥️ means a stationary rig, 💻 means any computing, casual or otherwise. If you see both in the same post, the author is probably comparing the two.

It's also one of the least-searched tech emojis. Google Trends shows "desktop computer emoji" barely registers while "laptop emoji" climbs year after year. The emoji exists. People just don't look it up.

The desktop computer emoji arrived in Unicode 7.0 (June 2014) and rolled into Emoji 1.0 the following summer, alongside other "obvious missing" symbols like the keyboard (⌨️), trackball (🖲️), and printer (🖨️). The batch was partly about completing the office set that had been stuck at phone-and-fax since 2010.

Vendors split on the drawing. Apple's version reads as an iMac, echoing the Bondi Blue iMac G3 that Jony Ive designed in 1998, the translucent candy-colored all-in-one that sold six million units and pulled Apple back from bankruptcy. Google's version adds a keyboard on a desk. Microsoft's original glyph had a beige tower next to the monitor before later updates simplified it. The emoji still feels like 2014, partly because desktops haven't visually changed much since.

1. 2014Approved in Unicode 7.0 alongside keyboard, trackball, printer, and other office peripherals.
2. 2015Added to Emoji 1.0. Apple ships an iMac-style design, Google ships monitor-plus-keyboard.
3. 2017Microsoft redesigns, dropping the PC tower from the earlier Windows design in favor of a cleaner monitor.
4. 2022WhatsApp and Facebook both refresh to a flatter, thinner-bezel monitor. The emoji starts looking less CRT, more modern display.

• •Desktop PCs shipped 15.2 million units in Q3 2025 globally, up 17% year-over-year. Laptops shipped 57.2 million in the same quarter. The desktop is a smaller market, but it's growing faster than the laptop market right now.
• •On Steam, 87% of enthusiast gamers use desktop GPUs versus 13% laptop GPUs. The gaming world is still a desktop world, even as the rest of computing walks around in a backpack.
• •The r/pcmasterrace subreddit has over 16 million members, one of the largest enthusiast communities on Reddit. The term "PC Master Race" comes from a 2008 Zero Punctuation review by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, originally satirical.
• •The iMac G3 sold six million units and saved Apple from bankruptcy after its 1998 launch. Apple's 🖥️ design still echoes that silhouette.
• •Google Trends data on "desktop computer emoji" is essentially flat at zero for six years running, while "laptop emoji" climbed from 26 to 89 in the same window. The emoji exists more than it's searched for.
• •The first commercial personal computer with a monitor was the Xerox Alto (1973). It cost $32,000 (roughly $220,000 in 2026 dollars) and was never sold to the public. Desktop computing didn't reach consumers until the Apple II (1977) and IBM PC (1981).
• •Microsoft's original 🖥️ (2015) showed a beige PC tower next to the monitor, the only vendor to include the tower. They dropped it in later redesigns. The tower hasn't been standard on consumer desks for about a decade, but it still looks like "a computer" to anyone over 35.

• •r/battlestations. The original home of desktop setup posts, dating back to the subreddit's 2011 founding. Still active in 2026 with monthly top posts hitting 40k+ upvotes. 🖥️ is the default opening emoji in comments.
• •Linus Tech Tips. Canadian tech YouTuber with 15M+ subscribers. Most-watched channel for PC-build content. 🖥️ shows up in thumbnails and video titles as shorthand for 'desktop build.'
• •The Apple 'Get a Mac' campaign (2006-2009). The iconic ads starring Justin Long as the Mac and John Hodgman as the PC baked the desktop-vs-laptop cultural divide into mainstream consciousness.