A couple of years ago Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo joined forces to create the Mutual Transfer Alliance (MTA) – a standardized way to transfer files between devices (phones and computers) locally over a 20 MB/s wireless connection. After a few months of beta testing, the feature went live.

 

Since then other companies have joined the Alliance, a list that now includes Samsung. Besides the original trio, OnePlus, Meizu, ZTE, Black Shark and HiSense are on board, as is Asus and its gaming brand Republic of Gamers.

 

But Samsung joining the fold is a big deal. For one, it is one of the largest smartphone makers in the world, often holding the #1 spot. Second, it already has its own wireless transfer feature, Quick Share, which was unveiled in 2020 as a replacement for the deprecated Android Beam (and as an alternative to Google’s new Nearby Share). Samsung even released a Windows 10 app earlier this year.

 

This doesn’t mean that Quick Share is going away, mind you. It is more likely that Galaxy devices (and the Windows app) will be updated to also support the MTA system. The company has not announced when it might roll out such an update.

 

However, this is a blow to Google, which recently announced plans to add Nearby Share to ChromeOS and may arrive on Windows 10 devices through the Chrome browser.