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Samsung‘s Galaxy S20 series may not get feature updates anymore but the devices are still picking up security patches regularly. The entire lineup, including the Galaxy S20 FE, received the March 2024 security update last month. Following an international rollout, the update is available widely in the US. The Galaxy Tab Active 3 is also getting the March SMR (Security Maintenance Release) stateside.
The Galaxy S20 series gets Samsung’s March 2024 update in the US
The March 2024 update is available widely for carrier-locked and unlocked variants of the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, and Galaxy S20 Ultra in the US. The new firmware build numbers for the phones are G98*USQS8HXC1 (locked) and G98*U1UES8HXC1 (unlocked). The update for the FE model is also rolling out widely. The device is getting the build numbers G781USQSEHXC1 and G781U1UESEGXC1, respectively.
The latest updates for these phones don’t bring anything more than last month’s security fixes from Google and Samsung. The former patched more than 30 vulnerabilities across various Android components, including two critical vulnerabilities. The Korean firm, on the other hand, patched nine security issues exclusive to the Galaxy family. These issues don’t exist on other Android devices.
The March SMR is also available for the Galaxy Tab Active 3 in the US. The rugged mid-range Android tablet from 2020 is picking up the update with the build number T577UUES8EXC1. It is a similar changelog for the device. Samsung is pushing nothing more than the 40-odd vulnerability patches discussed above. This isn’t surprising as the Galaxy Tab Active 3 is also done getting feature updates from Samsung.
Like the Galaxy S20 lineup, it debuted with Android 10. While the 2020 flagship smartphones, including the FE model, received three major Android OS updates (Android 11, Android 12, and Android 13), the rugged tablet only picked up two of those. Samsung promises four major updates for most Galaxy devices launched since 2021. Some newer models get security updates for as many as eight years.
The April update is on the way for eligible Galaxy devices
We may have just stepped into April but Samsung has already started pushing the April update to eligible Galaxy devices. The Galaxy S24 series picked it up last week. The company will soon roll out the latest security patch to other models, including the Galaxy S23 and recent foldables. The Korean firm has yet to detail the content of the patch, though. Like before, the April SMR should fix several dozen vulnerabilities across the Galaxy family.