Last year, Samsung and Microsoft strengthened their partnership significantly with a slew of improvements to the Your Phone app - bundled in Windows 10 - that are exclusive to Samsung"s smartphones. It started with the Link to Windows integration, and then it was discovered that the app actually works a lot better with Samsung phones. Eventually, screen mirroring even became exclusive to Samsung phones.
Now, the effects of this partnership continue to manifest themselves with a whole new feature exclusive to Samsung devices - specifically the upcoming Galaxy S20 family. Roberto Bojorquez, Group Program Manager at Microsoft, announced over the weekend that, starting with the new smartphones, the Your Phone app will support RCS messaging, as long as the default SMS app on the phone is Samsung Messages.
RCS, or Rich Communication Services, is an evolution of traditional SMS and MMS messaging that enables a slew of capabilities you"d expect from modern messaging services. There are no character limits, you can send higher quality images and other types of files, get read receipts, and see when the other person is typing. Google has been making a push for widespread adoption of the technology around the world, likely in an attempt to rival Apple"s iMessage service.
Naturally, Sasmung"s new phones aren"t available just yet, so you won"t be able to use the feature right now. If you pre-ordered a Galaxy S20, though, this may be something to look forward to.