Samsung phones receiving the January 2023 update

Update (Jan 6, 1:15 pm ET): Article has been updated to reflect the latest phones receiving the January 2023 update.

What you need to know

Samsung has begun pushing the January 2023 update to its Galaxy smartphones.
The Galaxy Note 10 series is among the first devices to receive the update.
The Galaxy S22 and Z Flip have also begun receiving the January patch.
The update addressed some moderate and high-level vulnerabilities.

We’ve entered a new month and a new year, which means phones will start receiving the latest monthly security patch and the first update of 2023. Samsung is usually pretty quick about releasing monthly security updates, and that remains true as we dive into the new year with the January 2023 patch.

Normally you’d expect the latest flagship models like the Galaxy S22 or Samsung’s foldable phones to be the first to receive a new update. However, this does not appear to be the case this time around, as the first models to get the update are the Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+, which started receiving it on January 2 (via SamMobile) with firmware version N970FXXS8HVL3. The devices are nearly four years old and no longer receive major OS upgrades, but Samsung still offers software support with quarterly updates.

That said, the Galaxy S22 series has started receiving the update in the United States as of January 6 (via SamMobile), and other regions are likely to follow. Per SamMobile, Galaxy Z Flip and Z Flip 5G are also among the first foldable phones to be updated.

As for what’s included in the patch, Samsung’s security bulletin for January appears fairly minimal, with no critical vulnerabilities addressed but quite a few high-level and moderate ones relating to Samsung Knox, NFC, the Secure Folder, and WifiSevice.

As of January 6, these are the Galaxy models that have begun receiving the January 2023 update (latest in bold):

Samsung Galaxy S22/S22+/S22 Ultra (S90xU1UES2BVL4/United States)
Samsung Galaxy S21/S21+/S21 Ultra (G99xBXXS5DVL3/Europe)
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip (F700FXXSAIVL3/Italy)
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G (F707BXXS7IVL1/Europe)
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 (N98xU1UES3GVL1/United States)
Samsung Galaxy Note 10/Note 10+ (N970FXXS8HVL3/Switzerland)
Samsung Galaxy A73 (A736BXXS2BVL3/Malaysia)
Samsung Galaxy A10 (A105MUBS8CVL1/South America)

We expect plenty more models to be updated throughout the month, so check back to see if your model is receiving the latest security patch. You can also check for updates on your Samsung phone by navigating to Settings > Software update > Download and install. Note that updates may start rolling out in one region but may take longer to reach additional regions.

The January patch starts arriving as rumors of One UI 5.1 start cropping up ahead of Samsung’s next major smartphone launch. We expect new features to arrive with this update, but it’s unclear when it will arrive.