Comment by madeofpalk

From the same article I linked:

    5.7.8. Implementation timing
    (402) Apple should implement the measures required to enable the scenario of close-range
    wireless file transfers while the receiving device has the relevant close-range wireless
    file transfer solution open by 1 June 2026. Apple should implement all measures for
    the features for close-range wireless file transfer solutions in the release of iOS 20,
    and in any case by the end of 2026.

(§5.7 is 13 pages of exquisitely detailed requirements for Airdrop interop)

Given Apple's usual release timelines, June 2026 is a bit early for iOS 27 (what the ruling calls iOS 20). In between that, the fact that this is a pretty big piece of feature work, and the fact that they were forced to ship other parts by iOS 26, I find it likelier that Apple shipped this in iOS 26, rather than shipping it some time next year as a point release.

Also, you have to consider the timing. Google is shipping this functionality now, a couple of months after the iOS 26 release. It would be just plain weird for Google to ship a reverse-engineered implementation of Apple's old proprietary stack after Apple has definitely already shipped part of the new, interoperable stack.