Galaxy S26 phone owners in the U.S. no longer need workarounds to share files with iPhones

Google originally introduced this AirDrop compatibility on the Pixel 10 series late last year, and earlier this year, the company hinted that AirDrop-style sharing was finally coming to more Android phones beyond Pixels. Samsung is the second Android brand to offer native AirDrop support, right alongside 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 way too long. You either had to email files to yourself, upload them to cloud storage, or download some third-party app. AirDrop was honestly one of those iPhone features that kept people glued to Apple's ecosystem, and that wall is finally starting to come down.

There is a catch, though. Right now, this update only works on the Galaxy S26 series. Samsung has said it plans to bring AirDrop support to older Galaxy devices "at a later date," but there is no timeline and no specific device list.

If you are using a Galaxy S25 Ultra or anything older, you are still waiting. Given that this is really a platform-level feature built on Google's work (not something Samsung engineered from scratch), the S26-only restriction feels a bit unnecessary. And if you are curious about what else is happening with Quick Share, a possible upcoming change might actually slow down your file transfers, which is a whole other conversation.

As we noted in our Galaxy S26 Ultra review, the phone is a strong flagship that excels in software refinements and AI features even if the hardware upgrades feel iterative. AirDrop support is a perfect example of that: it is a software-level addition that genuinely improves the everyday experience. The same goes for the standard Galaxy S26, which we called a "masterclass in ergonomics" in our review.

A small update that changes your daily workflow

I am glad this update has made it to the U.S., and I can confirm I have received it on my own Galaxy S26 Ultra. This is one of those things that sounds like a small deal until you actually use it. I work off a MacBook when writing my articles, and being able to take a screenshot on my Galaxy and instantly send it to my Mac for use in a piece (like the screenshots in this very article) has already saved me a bunch of time. No more emailing files to myself or messing around with cloud uploads.

Samsung took a full month after the S26 launched to deliver this, while Pixel users have been enjoying it since November. But credit where it is due: the rollout has been quick once it got going, and the feature works exactly the way you would expect. If Samsung can push this to older Galaxy phones sooner rather than later, it will be a huge win for the millions of Galaxy owners who have been watching Pixel users enjoy cross-platform sharing from the sidelines.