iMessage was launched in 2011. It's been 8 years and still no real solution for Android phones. RCS isn't encrypted, which is insane, and there's still massive infighting between carriers and Google. And even if RCS actually launches in the next year or so in the U.S., there's zero mention of iMessage interop (and zero interest from Apple), which means 45% of your contacts will still fall back to basic SMS/MMS. And who knows what the international situation will be like.

This realistically means the current crazy messaging situation is going to remain for the next 5 to 10 years.