This new March 2023 patch isn’t a considerable feature drop; it’s a security maintenance release. Many Samsung smartphones, including the Galaxy S21 FE, A52s, A52 5G, and A13, are receiving the March security update.
The update isn’t rolling out for everyone at the same time. Samsung’s updates vary heavily depending on your carrier and region. The March patch is rolling out in India, surrounding India, and other Asian countries.
Other regions, including the United States, will eventually receive the update in the coming weeks. There isn’t any need to worry since this update is just a security patch.
Samsung didn’t announce an official list of bug fixes or a changelog. However, there’s a chance that they might’ve silently patched some bugs to make the software run better. This improves the overall user experience.
The firmware build number for the S21 FE March patch is G990EXXS4EWC2, and it comes in just a couple of weeks after the launch of One UI 5.1.
It’s good to see Samsung roll out frequent updates for the S21 FE. It remains a trendy mid-segment device even in 2023.
One UI 5.1 brought a lot of small and functional changes. These add up to significant improvements overall. Samsung made some improvements to the setup wizard right in time for the launch of the S23 lineup.
The S23 series and the new Samsung phones like the A54, A34, A14 5G, and more ship with Android 13 based on the latest One UI 5.1. These phones have the best software update promise in the Android world.
Samsung promises four years of major Android updates and five years of security updates, currently the best software support you can get.
The quality of updates is debatable, but the number of updates goes a long way in determining the future-proof aspects of a device.
One UI 5.1 also had a more innovative gallery app with a better display of the EXIF data. It takes cues from iOS 16, and a new feature lets you separate yourself from the background with one tap in the gallery app.
There are some new modes, Bixby routines, and Expert RAW integration into the camera app. There were so many notable new features with One UI 5.1. So, we shouldn’t expect too much from the March patch.
But just because there aren’t many changes on paper, that doesn’t mean you should neglect this update. Cybersecurity engineers work very hard patching security vulnerabilities, and this update’s primary focus is security.
According to Google, there were sixty critical flaws with the previous version. Hackers could quickly access your device or take your data if the security flaws weren’t addressed.
If you’re on any of these devices, we recommend updating immediately to secure your device and data. This update addresses some severe chipset-level concerns.
Go to Settings, tap on Software Updates, and check for any new updates. Finally, tap Download and Install to update your phone to the March patch. You can manually update from a PC by grabbing the official firmware files.
Firmware build numbers for S21 FE, A52s, A52 5G, and A13:
- G990EXXS4EWC2
- A526BXXU2EWB5
- A528BXXS2EWB7
- A135MUBS2BWC4
Some of these phones will not get Android 14, and some won’t. We’ll update you when the new updates roll out to other models.