Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ Receive March Security Patch, Galaxy A8 (2018) Also Gets an Update

Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ are just beginning to make their way to pre-order customers across the globe, but Samsung doesn't seem to waste any time to keep its flagships up-to-date. The first over-the-air updates for the company's latest smartphones have reportedly started to hit in some markets, but the deployment may vary depending upon the region and carriers. Additionally, Samsung has also reportedly released the update for its Galaxy A8 (2018) smartphone as well. This means that the Galaxy A8 (2018), Galaxy S9, and Galaxy S9+ will get the latest security patches that Google just rolled out to Pixel handsets earlier this week; Samsung detailed the security update two days ago.

According to a SamMobile report, the OTA update comes with March security fixes. The OTA has reportedly been spotted in Germany, and according to the changelog it is 242MB in size. The Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ are supposed to ship with the February 2018 security patch. It is expected that the update may also bring some more tweaks. The handsets will come with Android 8.0, of course. Interestingly, the news comes at a time when in the same week, Google released the Android P Developer Preview 1.

Also, worth noting is that, as per Android Security Bulletin for the month of March, there are 16 issues resolved in the March security update patch level dated 2018-03-01, while the 2018-03-05 patch level addresses 21 issues. Vulnerabilities range from high to critical, and the most severe is related to the media framework that could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code through a "crafted file".

The version number for the latest update in Galaxy S9 is G960FXXU1ARC5 and in Galaxy S9+ is G965FXXU1ARC5. Buyers of the handsets can check for the updates in the Settings > Software menu when they arrive.

Meanwhile, another SamMobile report says that Samsung has also started pushing out an update to its Galaxy A8 (2018) smartphone. The OTA will arrive as version A530FXXU2ARB9. It is the same security update that brings along Android fixes for the month of March. Since rollout has just started, it may take some time for it to arrive in all regions.

Is Samsung Galaxy S9 the most value-for-money flagship phone in India? We discussed that on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.