How to transfer photos from Xiaomi to Samsung: a complete guide to comparing methods

The transition from Xiaomi to Samsung is always an exciting moment, especially when it comes to the safety of personal photos. Even if you carefully prepared for a change of smartphone, the risk of losing valuable images due to improper data transfer remains. In this article, we will examine all the current ways of transferring photos between these brands, from classic (cable, cloud) to little-known (direct transmission over Wi-Fi Direct).

The portability between Xiaomi and Samsung is different in their proprietary shells: MIUI and One UI. These systems handle media files differently, so universal methods (like Bluetooth) often work slowly or with errors. We tested each method on pairs of devices from different years of release — from Redmi Note 7 (2019) to Galaxy S23 Ultra (2023) — so you can choose the best option without loss of quality and taking into account the amount of data.

Important: If you transfer more than 10,000 photos or videos in 4K resolution, some methods (e.g. email or instant messengers) will become ineffective, and in such cases we recommend combining approaches – for example, using the cloud for the bulk of files and cable for the most important images.

1. Transfer via USB cable (the fastest way)

Use of the USB-The cable is the most reliable method for transferring a large amount of photos (from the Internet). 5 GB and higher. Copying speeds up. 40-60 MB/s is in 5-10 But there's a nuance here: Xiaomi and Samsung use different protocols for connecting (MTP and PTP), Which can cause problems with device recognition.

You'll need:

• 🔌 Cable USB Type-C — USB Type-C (or adapter if ports are different) Note that cheap cables often don't support high-speed data transfer.
• 💻 Computer (Windows/Mac) or OTG-Adapter for direct phone connection.
• 📂 Folder on your computer or external drive (if the photo volume exceeds 32 GB).

Step-by-step:

1. Connect Xiaomi to your computer. In the notification curtain of your phone, select File Transfer (MTP) mode.
2. Open the DCIM → Camera folder (or Pictures if the photos are saved in the gallery).
3. Disable Xiaomi, connect Samsung and transfer the photo to the DCIM or Pictures folder.
4. If you use OTG-Adapter: connect both phones directly, select the mode on Xiaomi USB-drive, and on Samsung - Import files.

Power saving mode is disabled on both phones (may interrupt transmission)

The cable supports USB 3.0 (blue connectors) for maximum speed.

Samsung has plenty of space (photos take up 10-15% more space when copying)

File system of the drive - exFAT or NTFS (FAT32 does not support files >4 GB)

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The critical detail: if Samsung doesn’t see the DCIM folder when you connect, create it manually through the file manager.

2. Wi-Fi Direct transmission (without computer)

Wi-Fi Direct allows files to be transferred directly between phones without intermediaries, speeds are lower than cable (10-15 MB/s), but no additional hardware is required, and the main disadvantage is the instability of connection on some Xiaomi models (especially the POCO line).

How to set up:

1. On Xiaomi: go to Settings → Connections → Wi-Fi Direct and turn on the feature.
2. On Samsung: Settings → Connections → Wi-Fi Direct, select your Xiaomi from the list.
3. Confirm the connection on both devices (may be required) PIN-code).
4. On Xiaomi, open a gallery, highlight a photo, click Share and select Wi-Fi Direct.

USB cable

Wi-Fi Direct

Cloud services

Messengers (Telegram, WhatsApp)

Another option

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Warnings:

⚠️ Attention: On Xiaomi with MIUI 12 and older Wi-Fi Direct can automatically shut down after 5 minutes of inactivity. Before transfer, turn off the Adaptive Battery in the battery settings.

⚠️ Attention: Samsung Galaxy S22 and newer limit the file size to be transferred over Wi-Fi Direct to 1 GB. For large videos, use alternative methods.

3. Cloud services: Google Photos vs Mi Cloud vs Samsung Cloud

Cloud storage is easy to move photos if you have a stable Internet connection and traffic is not limited, but each service has limitations:

Instructions for Google Photos (recommended option):

1. On Xiaomi, set up Google Photos and log in to your account.
2. In the settings, select Backup → High Quality (free) or Original Quality (quoted).
3. Wait until the download is complete (may take hours with a large volume).
4. On Samsung, log in to the same Google account and download photos through the app.

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If you have more than 15 GB of photos, use the “Partner Program” feature in Google Photos – it allows you to increase the space to 100 GB for 1 year for free when buying some Samsung models (for example, Galaxy S23 or Z Fold5).

4. Use of messengers (for a small number of photos)

Messengers such as Telegram, WhatsApp or WeTransfer are suitable for transferring up to 100-200 photos, but have serious limitations:

• 📎 Telegram: 2GB limit per file, but can be sent in folders.
• 💬 WhatsApp: compresses photos up to 16 MP and video up to 1080p. Limit 100MB per file.
• 🌐 WeTransfer: Up to 2GB free, but requires server download and download.

How to transfer via Telegram:

1. Create a personal chat "Saved Messages" or a chat with yourself.
2. In the Xiaomi gallery, highlight the photo, click "Share" → Telegram → select chat.
3. On Samsung, open Telegram, find the files you sent and save them to the gallery.

5. Applications for file transfer (Send Anywhere, Xender)

Specialized applications like Send Anywhere or Xender are optimized to transfer large files between different platforms, their main advantage is the absence of restrictions on file size (as opposed to instant messengers) and high speed (up to 20 MB / s on the local network).

Comparison of popular applications:

Instructions for Send Anywhere:

1. Install the app on both phones from Google Play.
2. On Xiaomi, select a photo, click “Send” and generate a 6-digit code.
3. On Samsung, enter this code in the "Get" field.
4. Confirm the transfer – the files are saved to the SendAnywhere folder.

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Send Anywhere applications use P2P (peer-to-peer) technology, so files are transferred directly between devices without downloading to the server, which guarantees privacy and high speed.

6.Move over a memory card (for microSD-enabled phones)

If both of your phones support microSD cards, this is the easiest and most versatile method.

• 📱 Not all Samsung models have a microSD slot (e.g., the Galaxy). S23 Ultra stripped of it).
• 🔄 ExFAT (Recommended) Cards are faster than FAT32, It may not be readable on older devices.
• 🛡️ Before extracting the card, always use the Safe Retrieval function in the settings.

Step-by-step:

1. Insert the card in Xiaomi, open the file manager and copy the photo to a folder on the card (for example, DCIM).
2. Securely remove the card and paste it into Samsung.
3. On Samsung, open the file manager, find the folder with the photos and copy them to internal memory.

⚠️ Note: If the memory card was previously used in Xiaomi with encryption (Encrypt function) SD-The map is in the settings, Samsung won't be able to read the data, so you can copy the photo to your computer, format the map, and repeat the process.

7. Automatic portability via Smart Switch (official decision from Samsung)

Samsung Smart Switch is a proprietary application for migrating data from other devices, including Xiaomi, which supports transferring not only photos, but also contacts, messages and applications.

• 🔗 It only works when connected via cable (Wi-Fi version does not support Xiaomi).
• 📸 Transfers photos in original quality, but can skip files with non-standard extensions (for example,.HEIC iPhone).
• ⚙️ Requires disabling ad blockers (they interfere with the service).

How to use Smart Switch:

1. Download Smart Switch on Samsung (pre-installed on new models).
2. Connect your phones with a cable (use the original cable from Samsung for stability).
3. On Samsung, select Get Data → Android.
4. On Xiaomi, allow access to files and wait for the scan to be completed.
5. Select "Photo and video" and start the transfer.

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Smart Switch is the only method that stores folder structure and photo metadata (date of shooting, geotags), which is critical if you sort photos by date or place.

Comparison of all methods: which one to choose?

To make the choice easier, we have compiled a table with the pros and cons of each method depending on your situation:

If you are still in doubt, answer two questions:

1. How many photos do I need to transfer? 100 piece → Messengers or Wi-Fi Direct. 100-1000 → Send Anywhere or Google Photos 1000 → USB-cable.

• Yes, critically. → Avoid WhatsApp and Mi Cloud (they compress photos).
• No. → You can use any cloud services.

FAQ: Frequent questions about photo transfer