During CES 2024, Google made a flurry of announcements focused on connectivity and partnerships, such as the capability to cast TikTok to TVs and the latest being a new unified Quick Share option enabled by Samsung.
The announcements are part of Google’s strategy to support a simplified way of devices connecting and speaking a bit more easily to each other.
In the announcement, it was revealed Android’s AirDrop-like sharing feature will be partnering with Samsung, and Android’s Nearby Share will implement the identical name as Samsung’s sharing protocol to be now known as Quick Share.
Samsung phone users should now have a smoother process and instead of using two very similar sharing options, there will be only Quick Share.
The new Quick Share will also offer support for formerly Samsung-only options such as sharing files with several contacts at once for compatible devices and non-Samsung Android phones.
Currently, Google is also collaborating with LG to incorporate the new Quick Share into future Windows PCs, and the previous Nearby Share app will become Quick Share.
Google is working on making new LG TVs compatible and work as Google Home hubs, which will support Matter over Wi-Fi, meaning users can connect most if not all of their smart devices.
Google also announced that Fast Pair will soon support pairing headphones to TVs through Chromecast with Google TV and that Pixel phone owners can start using a new HomePod-esque connecting with the Pixel Tablet, too.
Google VP of engineering Erik Kay says that the tech giant is “definitely looking to bring this feature to more devices over time,” but for now this feature will only work with Spotify and YouTube Music and on Pixel Tablets.
Kay also said more collabs with Samsung could be coming similar to the Quick Share partnership.
Speculation has recently arisen that Google and Apple may soon share an announcement of their own, but Kay could not confirm this, only saying that both companies have been “working together even more closely” and said we should “expect more of that to come.”
