Awhile back Android had released a feature called Android Beam that never fully took off. “Nearby Sharing” is their latest solution for direct phone to phone file transfers. Both features offer a means to transfer files directly between phones without the use of cables but with subtle differences. Beam’s used an NFC approach while this uses Bluetooth which should be a lot easier for manufacturers to implement.
Sharing between a Pixel 2 XL and Pixel 4 has been demoed by XDA-Developers. A 3.5GB image file was transferred in 2 minutes and 4 seconds. The previous version of this feature required the phones actually make physical contact but now with Bluetooth they simply need be within a foot or so.