Remember Samsung's S Beam? It's making a comeback... kind of

Over a decade ago, Android phones started coming equipped with NFC and Wi-Fi Direct. Samsung used those features to develop a wireless file-sharing feature called S Beam. But the company removed that feature after a few years and switched to Quick Share. Well, it could soon make a comeback… sort of.

Going through leaked One UI 8.5 firmware files, the folks over at Android Authority discovered strings related to an upcoming feature that lets you use NFC on your phone to quickly initiate file sharing via Quick Share. As you can see in the video below, users can share files with other Galaxy devices by bringing together two devices. Once activated, it displays an animation, and the file transfer begins.

It appears that the handshake process will be conducted via NFC, while the file transfer will utilize Wi-Fi Direct. Additionally, the animation seems to corroborate a recent report suggesting that Samsung has relocated the NFC coil to the top of the Galaxy S26 series. This change would make Quick Share's user experience similar to AirDrop on iPhones.

It isn't clear if this feature would be limited to the Galaxy S26 or if it will be available for all phones with Quick Share and NFC.

It suggests that Samsung could also be working on a feature similar to Apple's NameDrop, which allows users to share their contact information with others by simply touching the top of an iPhone with another. With One UI 7.0, the company introduced the Profile Card sharing feature, which is similar to iPhone's Contact Poster feature.

A recent rumour suggests that Samsung is attempting to enhance the Samsung Wallet experience by relocating the NFC coil to the top of its upcoming phones (starting with the Galaxy S26). This change would allow users to share files, contacts, or make payments simply by tapping the top of their phone with another device or payment terminal.