6 ways UAE dirham will soon see its biggest digital overhaul in years

UAE dirham symbol approved by Unicode for global keyboards and devices.

Apple, Google, Microsoft and Samsung can now adopt the new UAE dirham symbol after Unicode's approval, as the Central Bank advances the Digital Dirham rollout.

The UAE prepares for sweeping changes in how the dirham is used across keyboards, smartphones and payment systems.

The UAE is preparing for sweeping changes in how the dirham is used across keyboards, smartphones, payments, and financial systems as the country pushes ahead with both a newly approved currency symbol and the rollout of the Digital Dirham.

The changes form part of the UAE's broader strategy to strengthen its position as a global financial and digital payments hub, led by the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE).

The latest milestone came after the Unicode Consortium officially approved the UAE dirham symbol for encoding in Unicode version 18.0, scheduled for release in September 2026. Unicode is the California-based organisation responsible for standardising digital characters and symbols used across billions of devices globally.

This article references reporting originally published in Gulf News.

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