The Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+, and Galaxy S21 Ultra received the January 2023 security patch in the first week of this month. These devices were one of the first from Samsung to get the latest security update. However, back then, the company rolled out the update only to the international variants of the devices. Today, it is expanding the new security patch to the carrier-locked and unlocked variants of the Galaxy S21 in the US.
The latest firmware for the carrier-unlocked variants of the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+, and the Galaxy S21 Ultra comes with version G99XU1UES5DWA2. The new update for the carrier-locked models of these devices has firmware version G99XUSQS5DWA5. The new firmware for all six devices brings the January 2023 security patch, which fixes over fifty security issues. The latest update is most likely rolling out in phases, which means some users may get it before others.
If you are using the carrier-locked or unlocked variants of the Galaxy S21 series in the US, your device should automatically prompt you to get the latest update. But if it hasn’t shown you any notification yet, you can get the update by checking for it manually. To do that, you can navigate to Settings » Software Update and then click Download and install. You also have the option to download the update from our firmware section and flash it manually.
The Galaxy S21 series is eligible to get the Android 13-based One UI 5.1 update. It will debut with the Galaxy S23 series on February 1, 2023, and Samsung might start rolling it out to older devices a few weeks later. Since the Galaxy S21 series was launched in 2021 and Samsung has promised three years of OS upgrades, they are also eligible to get Android 14 later this year.
