The Galaxy S9 series was dropped from monthly to quarterly updates four months ago, and Galaxy S9 owners were left waiting for a new security patch to arrive in July or August. July came and went, but the good news is that Samsung hasn't forgotten about its three-and-a-half-year-old flagships. The Galaxy S9 is now receiving a new firmware update in Europe, and as you may have guessed by now, it's accompanied by the new August 2021 security patch.
The new update carries firmware number G96xFXXUGFUG4 and is rolling out for the Galaxy S9 in Germany, with more markets likely to follow suit. Interestingly enough, the firmware number indicates that the update includes something extra along with the latest security patch, but we're unsure exactly what. We'll update this story once we have a more concrete changelog, but we wouldn't get your hopes up for something major. The two previous firmware updates for the Galaxy S9 have also included extra features, though only minor, such as enhanced Quick Share.
The August security patch fixes Android OS vulnerabilities, for the most part
Samsung detailed the August 2021 security patch yesterday. The majority of issues addressed by this new release originated from Google’s Android OS. 38 fixes from Google are included in the latest security package, 2 of which are marked as critical. In addition, the August 2021 security patch features 2 fixes for vulnerabilities affecting Samsung’s software.
Galaxy S9 owners in regions where the latest firmware update is rolling out should receive an update notification soon. They can also attempt to download the update from the Settings app on the phone — under Software update — or they can download the Galaxy S9 or Galaxy S9+ update from our firmware database and install manually using a PC.