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Seriously, Apple would make absolute bank selling this exact service, even if it was restricted to blue bubbles, reactions, and high-quality media.

That's exactly what the announced RCS support for iOS provides. Just not the blue color of iMessage.

No, Apple won't be charging for that service.

Isn't RCS hosted by the carriers rather than Apple?

Yes, it's basically an SMS replacement, with at least as much carrier control.

It is actually more often than not hosted by Google