Usually Android smartphone makers love to use their own custom launches and apps. This is because obviously it’s a good thing if they can lock users into their ecosystem, thus making it harder for customers to move away to a different brand in the future.
However, interestingly enough, it looks like Samsung has decided to embrace Google Messages as its default messaging app of choice for its US based smartphones. Google Messages has always been available for download for Android smartphones, but typically speaking users had to download it themselves.
However, with the Galaxy S22, Samsung has decided to preinstall the app for users and also made it the default messaging app. Why is this a big deal? This is because for iPhone users, Apple touts its Messages app and its iMessage service as one of the reasons to use an iPhone, but with Google pushing for RCS to become a more universal standard that can work cross-device and cross-platform, having a company as big as Samsung adopt it and make it the default could help with that.
Users are of course free to choose their own messaging app, so even with Google Messages as the default, if you’re not a fan of Google Messages or prefer using third-party messengers like WhatsApp or Telegram, those options are still available to you.
Filed in Google and Samsung. Source: 9to5google
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