And Apple has already committed to implementing RCS. However, I will be absolutely gobsmacked if RCS messages appearing in the Messages app show up with the same color as iMessage messages.
They will still be differentiated.
There will still be differences in featureset. (For one thing, Apple has, at least for now, said they will not be attempting to implement Google's fully proprietary E2EE extension for RCS.)
Some (shallow, petty) people will still use it as an excuse to shun other people.
And none of that will be because Apple is deliberately degrading the experience.
But they are deliberately restricting who can make SMS clients. Google also needs to open APIs for RCS as far as I know, but you can make an SMS client that acts as default. I used Signal for both at some point, no RCS but I could make a choice about how I want to interact with people over SMS.
They will still be differentiated.
There will still be differences in featureset. (For one thing, Apple has, at least for now, said they will not be attempting to implement Google's fully proprietary E2EE extension for RCS.)
Some (shallow, petty) people will still use it as an excuse to shun other people.
And none of that will be because Apple is deliberately degrading the experience.