Google has Nearby Share, its native P2P file sharing service for the Android ecosystem. Samsung has Quick Share, its own file sharing service, but made specifically for Samsung devices. In a weird twist of fate, it’s getting reported that Google and Samsung may be merging the two into a singular service called Quick Share.
This news stems from user @Za_Raczke on Twitter, a known Pixel leaker with a solid history. Recently receiving an updated version of Google Play Services, their own phone’s Nearby Shared had been rebranded to Quick Share, complete with updated UI, icon, and everything else. When looking through the Play Services app, evidence was found that points to an education flow for the new Quick Share experience, too.
What Does It Mean: The fact that there are two P2P file sharing services, one from Samsung and one from Google, has always seemed a bit overkill. If the two companies are truly merging the separate services into a single offering, this should be seen as a great move for the Android platform.
This move hasn’t been announced and isn’t official yet, but we do have both CES 2024 and Unpacked this upcoming January. Either time would be great to announce this merging.
We’ll keep you posted.