Samsung may not be as fast as some other OEMs in pushing out Android version updates, but when it comes to monthly security patches, the company often does a good job. Thankfully, this is not limited just to the company’s flagship devices as it also updates many mid-range and budget devices to the latest security patch.
After releasing the December security patch for the Galaxy S9, Galaxy Tab S4, Galaxy J5 (2017), and Xcover 4, Samsung has now released it for the Galaxy A5 (2017) – a mid-range offering from last year. Galaxy A5 (2017) users on Telcel in Mexico have started receiving the A520FXXU7CRK7 update which bumps the security patch to December. It appears the December patch is also available in Canada as per our firmware database, with software version A520WVLU5CRL1.
Doesn't bring any new features
The update doesn’t seem to pack any new features and just includes the December 2018 SMR, which patches six critical vulnerabilities in the core Android operating system and 40 Samsung Vulnerabilities and Exposures (SVE) items.
As is the practice, Samsung will probably release the update in stages, and so not all the variants and regions may get the OTA immediately. If the update is available to you, but you haven’t received the notification yet, you can try to manually trigger it by clicking the Download updates manually option under Software Update in the Settings app. Alternatively, you can also download the update from our database if you are too impatient for the OTA.
