Samsung has yet to publish the content for this month’s SMR (Security Maintenance Release). Even Google hasn’t released the updated Android Security Bulletin (ASB) with May 2022 content. However, we can make a calculated guess that the latest SMR for Galaxy smartphones and tablets will contain fixes for several dozen vulnerabilities. The May security update has already rolled out to Samsung’s Galaxy S22 and Galaxy Tab S8 series flagship products. The Korean brand has been the first Android OEM to release a new SMR for several months now and this month was no different. A few more devices could join the party before we have the patch details. The latest update for the Galaxy S21 series may also bring some other bug fixes, optimizations, and performance improvements. Unfortunately, we don’t have a changelog handy to confirm that. No major new feature is expected though. The devices recently received the One UI 4.1 update, having previously picked up One UI 4.0 with Android 12. Launched with Android 11 early last year, this is the first major Android update for the Galaxy S21 phones. They will get two more of them in the future, i.e Android 13 and Android 14, with an additional year of security updates. The Galaxy S22 series, on the other hand, will get four major Android OS updates — up to Android 16 — and five years of security updates.
The May security update is now live for the Galaxy S21
The May security update for the Galaxy S21 trio is rolling out with firmware version G99*BXXU5CVDD in Italy. Users in other European countries can expect to get the update within a few days, with a global rollout following the suit soon. Since OTA (over the air) updates usually roll out incrementally, it could take a day or two for the new software package to be available to everyone in a region. As always, your phone will notify you of the OTA rollout once available. But even if you haven’t received any notifications, you can manually check for updates from the Settings app. Navigate to the Software update menu and tap on Download and install. You will be prompted to download any available updates. If there’s none, check back again later.
