Why Samsung Messages Is Ending and What It Means for Galaxy Phones

Samsung users are gearing up to say goodbye to a longtime friend, Samsung Messages. For years, it served as Samsung’s in-house texting app for Galaxy phones and tablets.

It handled SMS and MMS, and on some carriers it supported RCS, the newer messaging standard that brings read receipts, typing indicators, better media sharing, and stronger group chats.

However, Samsung is discontinuing the app and pushing users towards a more modern interface.

Samsung is giving up on messaging. It is giving up on running two messaging identities at once. On its support page, Samsung says, “The Samsung Messages application will be discontinued in July 2026." Additionally, it directs users to switch to Google Messages as their default texting app. Samsung also says that once the cutoff hits, sending messages through Samsung Messages will stop, except for emergency service numbers or emergency contacts set on the device.

Samsung is ending its messaging app because the company wants to move Galaxy users onto Google Messages for a more unified Android experience. Its discontinuation page pushes Google Messages as the go-to option for security, RCS messaging, AI tools, and multi-device continuity.

Samsung points to AI-powered scam detection and spam filtering, notes that RCS now works across Android and iOS when supported, and promotes Gemini features along with smoother syncing across phones, tablets, and watches. The company no longer wants to run a separate texting app when Google Messages already delivers the modern features it wants Galaxy users to have.

Samsung Messages was already a core part of Galaxy devices by 2018. That year, Google announced a broader RCS partnership with Samsung. In a September 2018 blog post, Google said Android Messages and Samsung Messages would “work seamlessly together” with RCS. Samsung executive Patrick Chomet said the partnership would improve the messaging experience for users.

“By furthering our robust partnership with Google, we will bring a richer messaging experience to our customers, letting them seamlessly chat with their friends and family across messaging platforms,” Patrick said at the time. “This collaboration will help further the industry’s momentum toward advanced messaging and global RCS coverage.”

For anyone wondering if Samsung phones are still a big deal, the proof is in the numbers. Samsung is still one of the two biggest smartphone brands on the planet. The International Data Corporation says Samsung shipped 241.2 million smartphones in 2025, good for a 19.1 percent global market share.

In Q4 2025 alone, Samsung shipped 61.2 million phones for an 18.2 percent share. IDC also said Samsung posted 7.9 percent yearly shipment growth in 2025 and called it one of the main premium-growth drivers in the market.

IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo said Samsung delivered its strongest fourth-quarter growth in over a decade. “Samsung delivered its strongest Q4 growth since 2013, driven by strong sales of its Galaxy Z Fold 7 and affordable AI-enabled Galaxy A-Series devices, while Apple achieved its best fourth quarter since 2021 and delivered the highest ever revenue in a single quarter, a strong testament to the success of the iPhone 17 lineup,” he said.