The December security update for Galaxy devices patches as many as 80 vulnerabilities, Samsung revealed last week. The vast majority of those patches are part of the latest ASB (Android Security Bulletin). These vulnerabilities exist on Android OS and other partner components. They affect all devices using those components. At least five of this month’s ASB patches concerned critical vulnerabilities, some of which could lead to remote code execution with any additional privileges. The latest security release also contains 13 Galaxy-specific vulnerability fixes. This update doesn’t seem to be live for the Galaxy S10 5G and the Galaxy S10 Lite. The latter is still getting monthly security patches, so it should pick up the December SMR sooner or later. The same can’t be said about the world’s first 5G smartphone though. It is quite old now and is no longer a priority for Samsung. But, if you’re holding on to this aging phone, you can always check for updates by navigating to Settings > Software Update > Download and install on your phone.
Samsung puts all other Android OEMs to shame with its security updates
Samsung has been the world’s largest smartphone vendor for several years now. The company launches dozens of phones at every price point every year. It also offers the industry’s best software support, going up to four years of feature updates and five years of security updates. Other OEMs are now catching up to the Korean behemoth. But, despite having so many devices to update, Samsung is more often than not the first Android vendor to release the latest security patch. It lost track a little in the past couple of months due to Android 13 updates. Otherwise, the company tends to begin the rollout even before we enter the new month. Even Google falls behind Samsung in this race. Samsung took things up a notch with its Android 13 updates. Halfway through December, the company has already updated most of its eligible Galaxy devices to the new Android version. It only has a few regional budget models left and should sweep through those before the end of the year. What a turnaround from a company that faced a lot of criticism for slow software updates just a few years back. Stay tuned for the December SMR rollout for other eligible Galaxy smartphones and tablets.
