The company Samsung has made a radical decision to shut down its Messages application, practically leaving standard communication on the Android platform under the auspices of solutions developed by Google.
According to available information, Samsung Messages will be removed from app stores during July and will become unusable in the coming months. Starting with the Galaxy S26 series, the app will no longer even ship as part of the system. Users are clearly suggested to switch to Google Messages to maintain a “consistent messaging experience.”
This decision comes at a time when the RCS standard is finally gaining serious momentum, including support for end-to-end encryption through carrier collaboration. This is precisely why it seems contradictory that Samsung is abandoning its own RCS platform at a time when it could be of the greatest importance.
Samsung is shutting down its Messages app and pushing users to Google Messages
Instead of a single ecosystem, the market now practically remains divided between Google Messages and Apple iMessage solutions. Although RCS has the ambition to unify communication across operators, the reality is far more complex. The system depends on the implementation of a large number of networks around the world, which significantly slows down the development and introduction of new functions.
On the other hand, closed systems like iMessage or apps like WhatsApp have full control over the platform and can innovate faster. This is exactly where RCS loses its key advantage – flexibility and speed of development.
The GSMA defines RCS as the successor to SMS with advanced features such as group chats, file sending and read receipts. However, without widespread and uniform adoption, this standard remains limited in practice.
Samsung’s decision clearly shows that maintaining its own RCS application in this environment has no economic and strategic logic. The consequence is additional centralization of mobile communication, where control is taken over by two big players, while the idea of an open standard is slowly losing its meaning, writes Forbes.