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Samsung has released the May 2023 update for the Galaxy S23 series. The rollout began earlier today and already seems to be available fairly widely in Europe and Asia. It should soon reach other parts of the world as well, including the US.
The May update for the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+, and Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with the firmware build number S91*BXXS1AWD1 in Europe and Asia. Samsung hasn’t added the latest release to its update tracker for the 2023 flagship trio, but a few users have confirmed receiving the update on Twitter. Germany, Poland, Thailand, and the Philippines are among the countries where the May release is available. A wider rollout should follow soon.
Samsung’s official changelog for this update doesn’t mention anything apart from the May security patch, which contains fixes for more than 70 vulnerabilities (more on this later). The firmware build number also suggests just a security update — the sixth character from the last is “U” for feature updates and “S” for security patches. However, the OTA (over the air) file size of 344MB is quite large, so we can’t rule out the possibility of this update bringing something else too.
Moreover, there have been reports that Samsung will fix the halo effect issue with the Galaxy S23 cameras in May. The latest Galaxy flagships are also expected to pick up some improvements to the low-light photo quality with a new update. It’s unclear whether the latest release brings either or both of these goodies. If not, Samsung will probably push them with a new update later this month or early next month. We will keep you posted.
The May 2023 update patches over 70 vulnerabilities in Galaxy devices
Samsung started rolling out the May security update to its Galaxy devices last week. However, it hadn’t published the content of the new SMR (Security Maintenance Release) back then. Now that we have stepped onto May, we have the patch details as well.
As said earlier, the May SMR patches more than 70 vulnerabilities in Galaxy devices. Those include over 50 Android OS patches and 21 Galaxy-specific security fixes. Samsung patched issues with AppLock, Call Settings, Telephony framework, Knox Enrollment Service, ThemeManager, and more system apps, services, and components. At least six vulnerabilities patched this month were labeled “critical” by Samsung and Google. Most of the remaining ones were high-severity issues. These security fixes will soon reach more Galaxy devices, including the Galaxy S22 series.