Samsung will roll out AirDrop support over Quick Share starting March 23 on the Galaxy S26, S26 Plus, and S26 Ultra. The rollout begins in Korea on March 23, with the US rollout beginning later that week, and will eventually reach Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, Latin America, North America, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan.
This marks the first time Samsung devices will natively support Apple's AirDrop protocol, ending years of friction for users trying to share files between Android and iPhone ecosystems. Previously, there was no quick, seamless way to two-way file share between Galaxy phones and Apple devices, with the process usually requiring workarounds like third-party apps or web-based transfer tools.
Unlike Pixel, AirDrop support on Samsung Galaxy is not enabled by default. Users must activate the feature manually by navigating to Settings, then Connected Devices, then Quick Share, and toggling on the option to share with Apple devices. To ensure a seamless experience, Quick Share currently works with AirDrop's "Everyone for 10 minutes" mode, with connections being direct and peer-to-peer, meaning data is never routed through a server and shared content is never logged.
The Samsung announcement follows Google's introduction of AirDrop support on Pixel 10 devices in late 2025, expanding to the Pixel 9 series in recent weeks. What makes this development significant is that Google added AirDrop support to Quick Share without Apple's involvement, suggesting it reverse-engineered all or part of the AirDrop technology. Google's implementation was vetted by independent security researchers.
Additional Galaxy devices will get AirDrop over Quick Share support later on, but there's no specific timeline. This means older Samsung flagships and mid-range models may eventually gain the capability through software updates, though Samsung has not committed to a rollout schedule.
The broader Android ecosystem is moving quickly toward cross-platform compatibility. Oppo recently said that its devices would add AirDrop support before the end of this month, signalling that Samsung's move is part of a larger industry shift away from proprietary file-sharing silos.
For Australian users and professionals juggling both Android and Apple devices, the practical significance is clear: a friction point that has long complicated workflows is beginning to dissolve. Files, photos, and documents can now move between Samsung and Apple devices with the same ease iPhone owners have always enjoyed within their ecosystem. The rollout represents a rare moment where major tech competitors are moving toward genuine interoperability, even if the driving force comes from Google's independent engineering rather than collaborative effort.