A couple of days back, Samsung released the December security patch for the Galaxy S23 series in the US. The new security update has yet to roll out to the phones in other markets. Meanwhile, a few more Galaxy devices have started picking up the latest SMR (Security Maintenance Release). The December security update is available for the Galaxy Note 20 series, Galaxy A52, and Galaxy A03.
The Galaxy Note 20 series gets Samsung’s December update
Samsung stopped making Note-branded flagship phones after the Galaxy Note 20 series in 2020. It brought the S Pen to the Ultra model in the S series. Debuting with Android 10, the last Note phones received updates up to Android 13. They aren’t eligible for Android 14 or other feature updates. It’s only security patches for them now, at least until August 2024.
Thankfully, Samsung is still pushing those security releases to the Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra every month. The December 2023 SMR is rolling out to both 4G and 5G versions of the duo in Latin America. The new firmware build number for the 4G versions is N98*FXXS9HWL1. That, for the 5G versions, is N98*BXXS9HWL1. The official changelog supplied by Samsung confirms that the update doesn’t bring any new features.
The Korean firm recently revealed that the December SMR patches more than 60 vulnerabilities. These include seven critical and 40-odd high-severity security flaws in the Android OS, as well as over a dozen Galaxy-specific issues affecting Contacts, Knox Guard, Smart Manager, AR Emoji, Camera, and other system components. The latest update patches these issues on the Galaxy Note 20 phones.
The two Note phones should soon receive the December security update in more markets, including the US (4G versions weren’t released in the US). If you’re holding onto these aging but iconic Samsung devices, watch out for a notification promoting you to download the update over the air (OTA). You can also manually check for updates from Settings > Software update > Download and install.
The latest security patch is also available for the Galaxy A52 and A03
Alongside the Galaxy Note 20 series, Samsung is pushing the December security update to the Galaxy A52 and Galaxy A03. The 4G version of the former is receiving the update with the build number A525MUBS6DWK3. It is A035FXXS5CWK1 for the latter. There is no 5G version of the Galaxy A03, which isn’t eligible for Android 14. The Galaxy A52, meanwhile, is expected to receive the Android 14 update later this month.
2023-12-08 15:05:49