Apple CEO Tim Cook has shot down the idea of iOS adopting RCS messaging, a format that would make it significantly easier for iPhone and Android users to send high-quality messages, videos, and photos to each other within the Messages app on iOS.
During a panel at Kara Swisher's final Code Conference yesterday, Cook was asked why iOS has not yet adopted support for the RCS standard and how Steve Jobs would feel about it (via The Verge), despite repeated calls from the industry for the company to do so. "I don't hear our users asking that we put a lot of energy in on that at this point," Cook said in response to the question.
The lack of RCS support on iOS makes it more difficult for iOS and Android users to communicate, forcing them to in some cases use third-party messaging platforms such as WhatsApp or Telegram. The reporter who asked the question pushed Cook on his response, saying he and his mother find it difficult to send photos and videos to each other because she uses an Android device while they use an iPhone. "Buy your mom an iPhone," Cook told the reporter who posed the situation.
Android has supported and led the industry in adopting RCS, while Apple has kept only iMessage and the SMS standard available on the iPhone. Google recently started a public campaign in an attempt to convince Apple to adopt RCS, but Cook's recent comments show Apple is not likely to budge anytime soon.
As noted by The Verge, emails from the Epic Games vs. Apple trial revealed that Apple's senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi said that bringing iMessage to Android and making it easier for the two platforms to communicate would "simply serve to remove [an] obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones."
Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below.
Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
Monday December 8, 2025 4:54 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is actively testing under-screen Face ID for next year's iPhone 18 Pro models using a special "spliced micro-transparent glass" window built into the display, claims a Chinese leaker.
According to "Smart Pikachu," a Weibo account that has previously shared accurate supply-chain details on Chinese Android hardware, Apple is testing the special glass as a way to let the TrueDepth...
Monday December 8, 2025 10:18 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today seeded the second release candidate version of iOS 26.2 to developers and public beta testers, with the software coming one week after Apple seeded the first RC. The release candidate represents the final version iOS 26.2 that will be provided to the public if no further bugs are found.
Registered developers and public beta testers can download the betas from the Settings app on...
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports.
In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
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Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.
One thing worth...
Monday December 8, 2025 9:23 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple's chipmaking chief Johny Srouji has reportedly indicated that he plans to continue working for the company for the foreseeable future.
"I love my team, and I love my job at Apple, and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon," said Srouji, in a memo obtained by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Here is Srouji's full memo, as shared by Bloomberg:I know you've been reading all kind of rumors and...
Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies Johny Srouji could be the next leading executive to leave the company amid an alarming exodus of leading employees, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.
Srouji apparently recently told CEO Tim Cook that he is "seriously considering leaving" in the near future. He intends to join another company if he departs. Srouji leads Apple's chip design ...
Monday December 8, 2025 11:10 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple and Google are teaming up to make it easier for users to switch between iPhone and Android smartphones, according to 9to5Google. There is a new Android Canary build available today that simplifies data transfer between two smartphones, and Apple is going to implement the functionality in an upcoming iOS 26 beta.
Apple already has a Move to iOS app for transferring data from an Android...
Friday December 5, 2025 10:08 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Intel is expected to begin supplying some Mac and iPad chips in a few years, and the latest rumor claims the partnership might extend to the iPhone.
In a research note with investment firm GF Securities this week, obtained by MacRumors, analyst Jeff Pu said he and his colleagues "now expect" Intel to reach a supply deal with Apple for at least some non-pro iPhone chips starting in 2028....
Apple today announced that Fitness+ is expanding to 28 new markets on December 15 in the service's largest international rollout since launch, accompanied by new language dubbing and a K-Pop music genre.
Apple Fitness+ will become available in Chile, Hong Kong, India, the Netherlands, Singapore, Taiwan, and additional regions on December 15, with Japan scheduled to follow early next year....
"Buy your mom an iPhone" Wow, maybe his mom has an opinion of her own about which phone she wants. Apple is so arrogant sometimes, and it clearly starts at the top :rolleyes:
It’s not Apple’s fault that Google messed about for years jumping from one messenger app to another and didn’t come up with anything good. Now they want Apple to bend over backwards to bail them out.
So, just leave your users with a garbage experience in the hopes that we pressure other people to buy iPhones? Yeah, how about you **** off with that line of thinking, Tim.
Apple hates industry standards so the chances of them doing anything pro consumer without being forced by regulators are slim to none. They're still using the stupid lighting port in order to keep selling 10 cent cables for $30 a pop.
