Galaxy S26 owners in the US no longer need workarounds to share files with iPhones

Google originally introduced this AirDrop interaction to The Pixel 10 series at the end of last year, and earlier this year, the company revealed that AirDrop sharing is finally coming to more Android phones than Pixels. Samsung is the second Android brand to offer native AirDrop support, next to Oppo, which recently announced the same feature for the Find X9 series.

Why Galaxy owners should care about this

Sharing files between Android and Apple devices has been a pain for a very long time. You may have had to send files to yourself, upload them to cloud storage, or download a third-party app. AirDrop was truly one of the iPhone features that kept people glued to the Apple ecosystem, and that wall is starting to come down. Currently, this update only applies to Galaxy S26 series. Samsung has said it plans to bring AirDrop support to older Galaxy devices “in the future,” but there’s no timeline and no specific list of devices.

If you use a Galaxy S25 Ultra or whatever is older, you are still waiting. Since this is actually part of the platform built on Google’s work (not something Samsung created from scratch), S26-just the restriction feels a bit unnecessary. And if you’re curious about what else is going on with Quick Share, the upcoming change may slow down the transfer of your files, which is another conversation.

As we said in our book Galaxy S26 Ultra review, the phone is a strong brand that excels in software improvements and AI features although hardware improvements feel lacking. AirDrop support is a perfect example of that: it’s a software-level addition that really improves the everyday experience. The same is true of situations The Galaxy S26, which we called a “masterclass in ergonomics” in our review.

A small improvement that changes your daily routine

I’m glad this update made it to the US, and I can confirm that I got it myself Galaxy S26 Ultra. This is one of those things that sounds like a small thing until you use it. I use a MacBook when I write my articles, and being able to take a screenshot on my Galaxy and send it immediately to my Mac for use in a piece (like the images in this article) has saved me a lot of time. No more emailing me files or fiddling with cloud uploads.

Samsung took a full month after that S26 started offering this, while Pixel users have been enjoying it since November. But credit where it’s due: the launch is fast once it starts, and the feature works as you’d expect. If Samsung can push this to older Galaxy phones soon, it will be a big win for the millions of Galaxy owners who have been watching Pixel users enjoy sharing the platform from the sidelines.