54
Thank you for posting this. Everyone else is trying to sensationalise or spin it, but this headline is the correct approach.
AirDrop uses industry standard tech (Bluetooth for discovery, WiFi for the actual sharing) but the WiFi protocols were proprietary before iOS 26, so they couldn't be accessed. The EU forced them to use an open protocol which they were already working on (that is to say, Apple is a contributor to WiFi Aware, the new protocol) so now the Pixel 10 family can QuickShare to an iPhone with AirDrop on for "Everybody for 10 minutes," both ways.
Requires Android 8 or higher and Google implementing it on the back end; so far they've only let the Pixel 10 have it, but in theory anything running Android 8 or later can do it. The iPhone needs to be running iOS 26 (the Liquid Glass update).
Also works with iPads.
Macs still use the old WiFi protocol, even in macOS 26 with Liquid Glass. No coincidence that the EU did not rule macOS as a gatekeeper OS like it did iOS/iPadOS. Speculation that that is why Macs are still not running WiFi Aware. They may in the future but we don't know.