With SMS and MMS falling out of favour rather rapidly, mobile carriers and manufacturers alike seem intent on implementing RCS messaging (Rich Communications Services) protocols in the near future.

For the uninitiated, RCS is an ‘upgrade’ from the archaic SMS and MMS functionality. RCS allows for higher quality picture messaging up to 10MB, group chats, location sharing, and even video calls by default. The service also appears to support read receipts and typing indicators that are the norm among today’s third-party messaging applications. The only drawback being that both devices must support RCS functionalities. Fortunately, RCS can fall back on SMS and MMS if the other device is incompatible.

Samsung has recently announced to expand its RCS services including native/downloadable device clients, cloud-based RCS application servers, an interconnectivity hub among operators and a third-party monetization platform. It seems that Samsung is intent on being one step ahead of its competitors and with the Android smartphone market reaching level of saturation, this might very well be beneficial for them.

“The GSMA aligned the mobile industry behind a single, Universal Profile for advanced RCS messaging and we have already seen a number of significant operator launches,” said Alex Sinclair, Chief Technology Officer, GSMA.

“This approach gives consumers a richer and more consistent messaging experience regardless of device or network. We look forward to seeing the profile become the de facto industry standard in the near future.” He added further.

The RCS capabilities are said to be introduced in devices running Android Marshmallow or later. With Samsung at the helm of RCS expansion, we can rest assured that other manufacturers and carriers will soon follow the norm. Whether the RCS services are capable to dethrone apps like Whatsapp, Telegram and WeChat among others, who enjoy strong consumer base and support is yet to be seen. Nevertheless, we expect RCS to bring some much needed and structural changes in the way we perceive our text messages. The RCS demonstration is set to be displayed by Samsung during MWC 2017.

via Samsung Newsroom