Samsung adopting AirDrop compatibility is exactly what Android needs right now
Samsung adopting AirDrop compatibility is exactly what Android needs right now
https://www.zdnet.com/article/samsung-adopting-airdrop-compatibility/
Publish Date: 2026-03-23 07:14:00
Source Domain: www.zdnet.com
Prakhar Khanna/ZDNET
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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Samsung is rolling out AirDrop/Quick Share capability to the S26 series.
- Coming to Korea first on 3/23, and the US later in the week.
- Will roll out compatibility to other Galaxy devices at a later date.
A few months ago, Google introduced a new feature that allowed Pixels to transfer files and photos to Apple devices via Quick Share, which uses AirDrop.
This is a very big deal because previously, the options to share data between iOS and Android were not great. You could text a file, email it, or, if you’re me, you could use Google Photos links, which work super well with my mom, except it really, really doesn’t.
Also: How to AirDrop on Android to iPhone (and which models support the file-sharing feature)
All this is not nearly as easy as AirDrop. It requires the receiving phone to be set to “Everyone for 10 minutes,” and then it works…most of the time. It would be best if we could all just wave our phones at each other and transfer data like you can from iPhone to iPhone, but we’ll take what we can get.
Until now, this capability has been limited to Google Pixel phones, but Samsung announced over the weekend that it is coming to the S26 lineup starting tomorrow in Korea and later in the week in the US. Further, the capability will be rolled out to all Galaxy devices “at a later date.”
Democratizing file sharing
Prakhar Khanna/ZDNET
This is pretty huge for this industry because, beyond Apple, Samsung takes up the lion’s share of the smartphone market in the U.S. and abroad. So, bringing AirDrop compatibility via Quick Share is a massive way to increase adoption and awareness of the utility. Of course, the rollout will be limited to people who have the S26 series initially, so that’s not quite as exciting, but Samsung compatibility will give this movement legs.
Also: Apple wasn’t at the world’s biggest Android show – but its influence was all I could see
Plus, this…
