Samsung Galaxy phones get an iPhone-matching free | Tech News

If one of the issues stopping you from switching to Android out of your iPhone is how a lot you employ AirDrop, Samsung has simply smashed by way of that barrier. The Korean tech giant has simply introduced it’s bringing AirDrop assist to the Galaxy S26 collection, its newest high-end Android phones.

In a short press release, Samsung confirmed the replace is rolling out as a software program replace to the Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26 Plus and Galaxy S26 Ultra from March 23, “starting in Korea and expanding to more regions including Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, Latin America, North America, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan.”

But if in case you have an older Galaxy telephone, you’ll have to wait and see if AirDrop will ever make it to your system.

“AirDrop support will initially be available on the Galaxy S26 series, with expansion to additional devices to be announced at a later date,” Samsung mentioned.

Samsung right here is following rapidly on from Google, who introduced AirDrop to the Pixel 10 and later Pixel 9 phones prior to now few months. The Android maker labored out how to get Android’s Quick Share operate to play good with AirDrop – crucially, with out the need for a separate app.

It all works natively, and now Samsung phones will have the ability to ship and obtain information to and from Apple gadgets simply as simply as chances are you’ll be used to utilizing an iPhone, iPad and Mac presently to take action.

When you get the replace, it is possible for you to to move to the Settings app to toggle on ‘Share with Apple devices’ within the Quick Share choices.

AirDrop is a mighty helpful Apple-made file switch commonplace that permits you to switch information, images and videos wirelessly between gadgets. It makes use of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to create a mini bridge between two gadgets when they’re close to one another, permitting for the secure and speedy sending of information.

If you’ve gotten an iPhone, iPad and MacGuide, it makes for an extremely useful gizmo that’s utilized in skilled circles to ship information rapidly. It;s additionally a great method to share images with household and pals.

But it has additionally served to lock customers into the Apple ecosystem. Apple has long marketed AirDrop as a great purpose to stay with Apple gadgets – that means people are far much less more likely to improve their iPhone to an Android telephone or change from Mac to Windows.

Apple has a lot of ecosystem lock-in on this manner, comparable to its refusal to permit Android phones to faucet into iMessage and its blue textual content bubbles.

But Google labored out how to faucet into AirDrop, and to this point, Apple has not protested the transfer. With Samsung following Google’s lead and testing the waters, it may not be long till AirDrop compatibility turns into commonplace on Android phones. Not that it’ll essentially persuade Apple die hards to make the change – however it’s excellent news if you happen to’re already staff Android.