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A couple of days back, Samsung released the August security update for the Galaxy Note 20 series and Galaxy S20 FE 5G. However, the rollout was limited to select international markets, including Latin America and Europe. Thankfully, the company didn’t take long to bring the update to the US. These phones are now receiving the latest security patch stateside as well.
As of this writing, Samsung is rolling out the August SMR (Security Maintenance Release) to the factory-unlocked variants of the Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra in the US. The new firmware build number for the phones is N98*U1UES5HWG6. The last Note-branded Galaxy flagships are getting nothing more than this month’s security fixes, the official changelog provided by the company confirms.
The August SMR itself is pretty big, though. Samsung revealed earlier this week that the latest security release contains more than 80 vulnerability patches. These include over 50 Android OS patches coming from Google and partner vendors. The remaining 30-odd patches concern Galaxy-specific security flaws (not present in Android products from other brands) and come directly from Samsung.
At least three vulnerabilities patched this month were critical issues (including at least one Galaxy-specific patch), Samsung has confirmed. Users with a Galaxy Note 20 or Galaxy Note 20 Ultra in the US can install the latest update to stay safe from these vulnerabilities. The Korean firm has already pushed the August SMR to all of its recent foldable smartphones stateside (excluding the 2023 models releasing tomorrow).
The Galaxy S20 FE 5G is also getting the August update in the US
The Galaxy S20 FE 5G is another Samsung smartphone that is now getting the August update in the US. However, unlike the Galaxy Note 20 series or the foldable models, the rollout for this phone has begun with carrier-locked units. The original Fan Edition (FE) phone is receiving the August SMR with firmware version G781USQSCHWGA. As of this writing, the update is live on T-Mobile, Metro, and Sprint networks.
However, it shouldn’t be long before Galaxy S20 FE 5G users on other networks get the latest security patch from Samsung. The rollout for unlocked units should also begin soon. Don’t expect anything notable apart from the aforementioned security patches, though. The changelog doesn’t mention anything else. As usual, you will get a notification once the OTA (over the air) release hits your phone. You can wait for the notification or manually check for updates from the Settings app.