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Since Google controls both the sender and receiver in the case of a Gmail-to-Gmail conversation, couldn't they skip actually sending the email and route it internally? Why is there a need to invoke SMTP and everything? There is no cross-server communication that is needed.

Streetlamp
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    Because they only need to implement one methoid to send a message rather than two cases (sane for receiving) – mmmmmm Feb 09 '21 at 23:05
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    All 1.8 billion gmail users are not on the same server. – Karl Bielefeldt Feb 09 '21 at 23:52
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    What makes you sure they do? I can think of one reason they would: SMTP has to be supported anyway to connect to the rest of the world. So redoing everything in a proprietary way, making sure each email receives the same treatment (Google reads all your mail) does not seem to bring any benefit. – Martin Maat Feb 10 '21 at 07:01
  • Do you know that your bank doesn't just UPDATE accounts when you transfer money from/to accounts of the same bank right? They perform as if you were transferring to any other account no matter the bank and the reasons for this are not merely technical. There are other forces that come into play. – Laiv Feb 10 '21 at 14:22
  • @MartinMaat if you select "Show original" in a Gmail conversation you can view detailed information about the email, it indicates that SMTP was used for both emails sent within Gmail and outside – Streetlamp Feb 10 '21 at 19:22
  • @Laiv please elaborate on these "other forces" since those are the reasons that are not merely technical. Those are what I am trying to get at – Streetlamp Feb 10 '21 at 19:24
  • Policies like monitoring or traceability. Some business even laws of all sort. Consistency is also a big thing (one problem is solved always the same way). Shortcuts are rarely good at the scale of the things we are speaking about. On the other hand Google is likely aware of the real "impact" of this "infernal" traffic which can be addressed with dedicated networks. We dont nothing about Google's network topology which Im sure is not a mere LAN. – Laiv Feb 10 '21 at 20:03

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There are different(!) "e-mail protocols" for sending emails and for receiving them. SMTP is for receiving.

Mike Robinson
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    Is it possible that you confuse Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) with Post Office Protocol (POP)? Can you check your email software? – Christophe Feb 10 '21 at 07:37