Samsung wants to bring text messaging into the 21st century with acquisition of RCS

By Christian de Looper Published November 15, 2016

Samsung is on an acquisition roll — the company recently announced the $8 billion acquisition of Harman International, but Harman isn’t the only business it bought out. It also purchased a Rich Communications Services business from NewNet Communication Technologies. The business, called NewNet Canada, will operate independently as a unit of Samsung, and could make your texts a whole lot more interesting.

Rich Communications Services, also known as RCS, is largely thought of as the next generation of text messaging standards. The standard helps make text messages act very similar to messages sent through a service such as WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, but it enables those features through the basic SMS, or short message service, already on your phone.

Recommended Videos

An example of the new features RCS can bring to SMS is that you’ll be able to see when someone is typing a message, and you’ll get notifications when the other person has seen your message. Not only that, but it will be a lot easier for people to be added and removed from group messages. Last but not least, it will be a lot easier to share files and photos.

It’s not known what the terms of the deal are, but Samsung did issue a press release announcing the acquisition and some insight as to why it’s important for the company.

“This acquisition is a critical milestone not just for Samsung but also for the communications industry,” said the company in its statement. “As an end-to-end, GSMA-compliant RCS solution, it will accelerate the deployment of RCS-enabled networks, providing consumers with a ubiquitous standards-based messaging and communications platform.”

Samsung, as mentioned, has also snapped up Harman International, giving the company a ton of connected car technology, as well as a series of consumer audio products.

Christian de Looper

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Christian de Looper is a long-time freelance writer who has covered every facet of the consumer tech and electric vehicle…

Topics

Phones

I visited Infinix’s first global flagship store, and it’s unlike any phone store I’ve been to

Phones, coffee, and robots: Infinix's Bali concept store was a delightful surprise

Infinix Flagship Store

I've been to plenty of smartphone stores over the years, and I can't tell any of these experiences apart. Picture neatly arranged tables, rows of smartphones, and the occasional accessory tucked away in a corner. Honestly, this works for most people who show up knowing exactly what they need and just leave.

So, when Infinix invited me to Bali for the grand opening of its first global flagship concept store, I was curious to see what the company had planned. I expected an elaborate showroom and a few extra things, like eye-catching installations to celebrate the occasion. And while there were a few of these, a lot of the things that actually caught my eye were permanent parts of the store.

Phones

Apple’s supply chain power is legendary, but a new report says it’s downright brutal

Whatever you've heard before, the reality is a lot more shocking.

Teradown view of an iPhone.

Ever wonder just how powerful Apple’s market status is? To give you an idea, here’s a passage from a searing report published by The Wall Street Journal published a few days ago:

“Around the end of 2015, Sandisk refused Apple’s requests to send additional supply because it already had customers willing to pay more. Blevins threatened a Sandisk salesman with retaliation, saying he would have Sandisk’s chief executive, Sanjay Mehrotra, “crawl on his knees” back to Apple, according to a person familiar with the call."

Phones

Android’s new ‘SMS of Death’ exploit can crash your phone without you doing anything

A malicious text message can disrupt calls and leave an Android phone stuck in a reboot loop, without the owner knowing what happened.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra smartphone in blue color.

A security researcher has uncovered a serious vulnerability in Android that allows an attacker to remotely crash a smartphone using a specially crafted text message. Dubbed "SMS of Death," the flaw can disrupt cellular services, disconnect ongoing calls, and even leave a phone stuck in a reboot loop. The troubling part is that the recipient doesn't have to interact with it at all.

The flaw, tracked as CVE-2026-58882, was discovered by security researcher Mark Blaszczyk, who first notified Google about it in May. On October 29, he published his findings alongside a working demonstration, after successfully reproducing the attack on Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy smartphones. Google has already developed a fix, but its availability across Android devices is another matter.