Apple’s recent announcement of adopting RCS for the iPhone was a shocker to say the least, but it seems it might have been because of China. Users and industry experts were speculating it was because of pressure from the European Union. The EU has most definitely forced Apple to make lots of changes recently, but RCS support seems to not be a part of that list.
Apple supporting RCS to comply with laws in China
John Gruber, tech blogger and author of Daring Fireball, conjectured in a post that new Chinese laws might be forcing Apple’s hand. The tech giant has been reluctant to adopt RCS for a long time. Apple was content with iMessage reigning supreme on its devices. This also kept up the social divide of the “blue bubble” and “green bubble”. The sudden announcement of RCS coming to iPhones came completely out of left field.
Gruber revealed he’d been talking with sources inside Apple who claimed support for RCS was “all about China”. Apparently, new laws have been enacted in China regarding the certification of smartphones. From now on, 5G devices will need to support RCS to be sold in the country. The iPhone’s market share is huge in China; larger than even the United States. As such, Apple has no choice but to accept whatever new demands the Chinese government imposes on it.
What is RCS, and what does iPhone support for it mean?
RCS, or Rich Communication Services, is the new standard for communication over mobile carrier networks. It was introduced as a replacement for the traditional SMS and MMS standards. RCS has support for higher quality file sharing and longer texts. Users also get to see message delivery status and read receipts. It completely revamped carrier-based communication and brought it to the standard of messaging platforms like WhatsApp.
RCS, however, is not end-to-end encrypted like iMessage. Furthermore, Apple was more than content with ignoring RCS indefinitely. iMessage has been a staple of Apple’s ecosystem, and RCS support undermines that exclusive experience. In more practical terms though, RCS on iPhone means files shared with Android users won’t be compressed. Images and videos will no longer be blurry if sent to or received from an Android device. Communications between iOS and Android will also now feature read receipts. The infamous green bubble versus blue bubble stigma will remain, though.
Though Apple’s decision to adopt RCS might not be because of the EU, it will undoubtedly improve the experience of consumers worldwide. All the new changes to how Apple operates probably irks some diehard fans, however.
2024-02-20 15:07:38